Mass gainer blend

A mass gainer is not a protein powder with extra scoops in the tub. It is a carbohydrate product with a protein system built into it, and the arithmetic is a matter of public record: when Indian customs examined three imported mass weight gainers in proceedings decided at Ahmedabad in January 2025, the compositions before the tribunal were 15% protein against 76.64% carbohydrate, 20% against 70%, and 22.7% against 66%, with fat between 3.1% and 6%. That is the band the category actually occupies. Commercial servings of 150 to 330 g are formulated to land somewhere between 500 and 1,250 kcal, carrying 30 to 50 g of protein and 100 to 250 g of carbohydrate, which means the powder has to be engineered around bulk, dispersion and mouthfeel rather than around protein alone. The carbohydrate carrier does most of the work and sets most of the constraints. Maltodextrin is the default because, by definition, it sits below 20 dextrose equivalent, with commercial grades usually DE 10 to 19. That keeps it non-sweet, keeps osmolality manageable and lets a large mass go into one serving without the drink tasting like syrup. Raise the DE and you gain sweetness and hygroscopicity; lower it and you gain viscosity. Oat flour, waxy maize starch and dextrose are the usual co-carriers where a buyer wants a slower carbohydrate profile or a fibre figure on the panel. On the protein side the standard build is WPC 80 with milk protein concentrate or calcium caseinate behind it, and that brings a real lactose load: WPC 80 carries roughly 4 to 8% lactose on its own, and once skimmed milk powder is in the recipe the finished blend can be several percent lactose. That is a formulation decision rather than a footnote, and it is why lactase is a common inclusion and why a whey-isolate build exists for buyers who need the lactose down. Two commercial points decide most projects. The first is allergen declaration, and this product is unusually exposed. A conventional gainer is a milk product, it is normally instantised with soy lecithin, it often carries oat or barley-derived carbohydrate, and it sometimes carries egg albumen. That is potentially four declarable allergens in one bag, and each of them has to be on the specification before the first sample ships rather than discovered at the buyer's label review. A fully vegan pea-and-rice build removes milk and egg entirely and, with sunflower lecithin and a non-cereal carrier, can be made free of soy and gluten as well. The second point is that this is a recipe, not a commodity. Ratio, flavour, sweetener system, enzyme and creatine inclusion and micronutrient overages all move together, and changing any one of them moves the nutrition panel and, in some destinations, the tariff line. Fix the recipe, then fix the specification, then run the first production against both.