Posted on 31 Dec 2014
3 min read
USN have recently gone through a re-brand with the majority of their products.
They invited me to try some of the new range, which included their casein protein offering: 8 Hour Premium Casein.
There’s a huge amount of casein products on the market, so are USN ahead of the competition?
8 Hour Premium Casein by USN is designed to be taken before bed to minimise the risk of your body becoming catabolic, while aiding in recovery during sleep.
USN are a lot like MaxiNutrition in that they are able to sell products in retail stores in the UK, including some supermarkets, meaning generally that they are very expensive.
The USN casein is no exception – coming in at a ridiculous £49.99 RRP for a 908g tub.
To be fair, you can pick up a tub for about £35 usually (online), but even that is very overpriced.
One strange thing that I noticed about the product is that it has an ‘age restriction’ style badge on it, letting people know that it isn’t suitable for under 18s.
I’m speechless about that to be honest.
I guess they think milk derived protein is somehow bad for young people – either that or it’s something to do with a stupid government restriction.
The ingredients from the USN website are as follows:
“Pure spray-dried calcium caseinate (from milk), Flavouring, Guar gum (containing glucomannan), Aminogen®, Non-nutritive sweetener: Sucralose.”
USN 8 Hour Premium Casein uses calcium caseinate as its primary ingredient, which is derived from milk.
Calcium caseinate is a great form of protein which is very slow digesting, meaning a steady release of amino acids is fed to the body during digestion over a much longer period of time than, say, whey protein, making it ideal for before bed.
However, at this price I would expect the product to consist mainly of micellar casein as its primary ingredient, as micellar casein is far superior to caseinate in purity, as well as digesting slower than caseinate.
It just feels like USN have tried to avoid extra costs here by using an inferior type of casein.
I have to say the taste of this product is incredible.
The vanilla cream flavour tastes exactly like ice cream when mixed with milk, and it’s just absolutely delicious.
In fact this comes very close to being my favourite protein flavouring, nearly as delicious as Syntha 6 whey.
The texture is as thick as you would expect from a casein, but it mixes well, especially with milk.
Is casein effective?
Definitely.
I always find I recover much faster when I take a casein shake before bed.
And if that casein shake tastes amazing, then I guess it’s something I’ll always look forward to and never skip, so, yes, this product will be effective.
This is where the USN 8 Hour Premium Casein falls short, as quite frankly the value for money is absolutely terrible.
To not even have a month’s worth of product for £35 is just pathetic, never mind if you’d paid the retail price.
If the quality was utterly amazing I could understand the high cost, but paying this much for calcium caseinate product is just not worth it.
USN 8 Hour Premium Casein is a great tasting, quick mixing product let down by inferior quality ingredients and a ridiculously high price.
Everything about the product, from the over 18s warning on the branding to the ‘lean muscle’ goals on the website, just feels like USN are trying to make casein seem like some kind of mad ultimate muscle gain supplement, when, in reality, it’s just very expensive protein.
To order USN’s casein supplement, or for more product info, shop here at the USN website.
You can also sometimes land a (relative) bargain by shopping at Amazon.
Have you tried 8 Hour Premium Casein or any other USN products?
Is casein a regular fixture in your diet regimen?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!
Will lives in London and is a Digital Marketing Executive by day. He first started going to the gym because being weedy and ginger doesn't really get the girls. Now he is muscly and ginger he still doesn't get the girls, but at least he can bench more than their boyfriends. You can find him blogging over at willkennard.com.
