Here is some info from John Berardi.
• Casein protein intake (30g) produces moderate but prolonged hyperaminoacidemia. After two hours, blood amino acids are elevated by about 32% and after four hours by about 35%. After seven hours, blood amino acids are still elevated. This is ideal for prevention of protein breakdown but does nothing for protein synthesis (3,4).
Well, if I had an ideal nighttime protein shake to set by the bed, it would include a combination of ingredients that promotes two large bursts of hyperaminoacidemia every four hours (leading to two bursts of synthesis — one at bedtime and one four hours later) and a prolonged low-level hyperaminoacidemia (to inhibit breakdown). Now, part of this can be accomplished with a milk-isolate blend taken immediately before bed. There are many such blends on the market.
At this point, you might be asking yourself why I simply don't recommend milk. Well, I'm hesitate to suggest milk as a result of the recent data showing that unfermented, intact milk (skim or whole) may not be all that great for you. The high incidence of milk allergies and lactose intolerance coupled with a huge insulin index makes me hesitant to give my endorsement to the moo juice. However, milk products like cottage cheese behave differently than milk and are another solid choice. The whey content of cottage cheese could use some beefing up though, so don't be afraid to throw in some whey or milk isolates.
Although quite effective, unfortunately this route doesn't allow for the second burst of fast protein and hyperaminoacidemia that we want about four hours into our slumber. So the simplest way to do this would be to make a big shake/meal before bed, consume half at bedtime and the other half in the middle of the night.
What is the PERFECT protein powder before bed?
Such a formula might contain 15g of regular whey protein, 30g of casein, and 15g of time-released, encapsulated whey protein that sits around in the gut for four hours and is magically released during one big digestive burst at that time. With such a formula, the 60g protein dose would definitely keep you covered for the overnight fast and might help you pack on a little extra muscle.
Excited yet? Well, don't fall for the trap. I'm sorry to tell you that such a formula is probably impossible to make. First of all, I'm not aware of any technology that will allow such a precision release of protein at a predetermined time. Secondly, if there were a way to do this, the costs would certainly be prohibitive.
But what about the current crop of overnight protein formulas popping up in magazine ads? What are they supposed to do? Well, unfortunately they don't even claim to accomplish the goals I set out above. All they claim to do is provide you with a slow released protein that keeps blood levels of amino acids low and stable all night, thus minimizing protein breakdown. Considering that plain old cottage cheese can accomplish this goal, these formulations aren't so revolutionary.
In fact, either milk protein blends or homemade whey/casein combinations may even be superior to slow digesting proteins alone, as indicated above. The combination of fast and slow may be best for both increasing muscle protein synthesis and preventing muscle protein breakdown. So why the need for fancy overnight protein products? At a price of four to seven bucks per 50g of protein (based on the brands I've looked at), I can't see one. All I can see is the rich robbing from the misinformed poor.
• A better and more-affordable choice is plain old cottage cheese and/or a blend of proteins like those found in Low-Carb Grow! (Milk itself isn't a good choice however.)