When you eat food, your body has to break it down into smaller, usable forms that can be moved around the body. Proteins are broken down into amino acids.

Digestion begins in the mouth when you chew food into smaller pieces. From there, digestive enzymes in your saliva begin to break down carbohydrates and fats. Digestion of protein begins in the stomach, where pepsin is released to break the protein into smaller peptides.

“The stomach produces hydrochloric acid (HCl) and pepsinogen, an inactive form of the enzyme pepsin. The acidic environment of the stomach activates pepsinogen to pepsin, which begins to break down proteins into smaller peptides (short chains of amino acids),” explains Ashley. Sove, CHN, is a certified holistic nutritionist and herbalist specializing in digestive health.

“Adequate stomach acidity is very important for protein digestion, and low stomach acidity can slow down protein digestion,” she adds.

Protein powder is usually digested in the same way as dietary protein. However, absorption rates can vary depending on the type of protein powder and what it is mixed with.

For example, whey protein is absorbed faster than casein protein. And because liquids are absorbed more quickly than whole foods, protein powder consumed without added fat or fiber is absorbed more quickly than dietary protein.