Does Pea Protein Spike Insulin?

Pea protein is riding the popularity of plant-based diets right now, as a classic animal-free protein. With one of the most "distinctive" taste profiles around, the popularity of pea is clearly based on what it does in the body.

It's a classic example of plant proteins: it lacks some amino acids but blends well with other protein sources in plant-based diets, making it a great option for vegan meal replacement shakes. We often see pea combined with proteins from chickpeas and hemp, for example, to provide a complete amino acid profile.

What we're here to talk about today, however, is not that distinctive pea aftertaste. Rather, it's the effect on your insulin levels—one of the most critical hormones in long-term dietary health and wellbeing.

Insulin Function: Why It Matters and How It Happens

Insulin is basically your body's sugar-management hormone. It's a key factor in the processing and use of energy in the body, but it is also sensitive to our diet's long-term trends.

We've seen a rise in diabetes because of this role and our declining dietary habits. Over-eating with a carb-rich diet is the leading cause of this diabetes issue we're having as a society.

This produces insulin resistance, leading to high insulin levels in the body—an enormous risk for heart health. Diabetes contributes to heart attacks at a shocking rate.

So, when we control our insulin levels, we're controlling our risk of diabetes. We're also ironing out the response of our body to the stresses we put on it.

The question for today is simple: "what does pea protein do to insulin levels?".

Does Pea Protein Spike Insulin?

Yes.

But it's a bit more complicated than that—almost any food will increase insulin response. That's what insulin does: it stores the energy absorbed from food, shuttling it to the various parts of the body that require glucose-energy like the brain and muscles.

The question is about a spike in insulin levels. And that might not be as clear—because the spike we see in pea protein intake is similar to those we see in other forms of food and protein-sources.

What you're always going to see after consuming pea protein is a reduction in blood glucose levels because of the increase in insulin levels.

The basic action of insulin in response to protein is the same as carbs, just much, much smaller: it shuttles energy. Now, when we eat pea protein, we're also going to see a reduction in appetite, which we expect from proteins, too.

What's really interesting is the comparison between pea and other protein sources—such as whey. This is a fair comparison because they're animal- and plant-versions of the same point: a protein powder. They're also 2 of the most popular examples.One reason that pea protein has a strong insulin response is because it clears the stomach faster. While whey is famous for being fast, pea protein is actually cleared and absorbed more quickly.

This accounts for some of the immediate spikes that we see with pea protein—both alone and in combination with carbohydrates. Your insulin is obviously going to go up if you're getting more protein faster.

However, even with this increased clearance rate, pea protein has a 10% smaller effect on insulin response. It clears faster, begins absorbing almost immediately, and has a more gradual curve down over time.

This means a faster, more sustained insulin response than the fast-in, fast-out whey protein that is so popular.

When we combine pea protein with carbs, as is the usual approach to something like a post-workout meal, pea is significantly less insulin-intensive than whey.

The results are more evident in the mixed meal, where the insulin response and the way that pea protein affects blood glucose is significantly more sustained than whey.

As mentioned above, whey can be fast-in, fast-out, whereas pea protein has a more gradual absorption rate once it's cleared the stomach.

Why Should You Care?

You should care about pea protein's sustained release because this is one of the main factors involved in the accretion rate of protein after consumption.

The science tells us that having an immediate dump of protein isn't necessarily as good as the longer-term windows of protein release, which are more closely associated with muscle protein synthesis.

Pea actually gets a pretty good spread on this, since the fast gastric emptying is great in a post-workout context where you want to signal for recovery and growth quickly. But, crucially, it doesn't dump protein into your system all at once—nor have the same digestive impact as whey.

Does It Matter?

This is the real area where the implications are less clear. What does all this actually mean in real terms?

The insulin release differences between whey and pea protein don't really add up to significant changes in terms of things like diabetes risk. If you're concerned with your protein intake and you're reading this article, you might not actually be the main at-risk group for diabetes.

People who are taking in protein supplementation benefit from it, whether it's as whey or pea: they're both going to improve the satiety and metabolic regularity your diet provides.

However, even beyond that, there's another simple question you need to ask yourself: "what am I using protein supplements for?"

For most of us, they're primarily a way of increasing the amount of protein in the diet. Not only that, but specifically post-workout.

If that's your context for using a pea protein, for example, then you want a higher insulin response.

That's the point of eating after a workout: insulin is part of a quartet of anabolic hormones that you want to stimulate off the back of a workout to increase nutrient delivery and recovery/growth signals in the muscles and liver.

So, when we look at what has the lowest insulin response, it's not clear that's the best choice. WE don't like pea protein because it has a lower insulin "spike" than whey; we like it because it has a sustained long-tail insulin release stage after that.

It's not the low peak that matters; it's the long slope afterward. That's why pea and other plant-based protein sources provide a suitable alternative to whey and a decent intermediary between whey (very fast-absorbing) and casein (slow-absorbing).

Closing Remarks

Pea protein is cool—just make sure it's used appropriately for your diet and goals. It's not just some magical powder that turns peas into muscle.

It's got some benefits—like the clearance rate, the high arginine content, and a sustained release—but it's not the holy grail.

Also, it requires you to actually have a good spread of amino acids in your diet, since it's not as complete as something like whey.

These are fair trade-offs, and they might be the best for you, but insulin function alone won't change everything. It's not a problem, it's a good choice, and it's about fitting it to your dietary needs and your personal dietary commitments—like a plant-based diet.