In case anyone hasn't noticed, the price of protein has gone up lately. There is an article here that talks about it: Protein Prices Increasing Market Wide

Also, according to fitrx.com:

"Unfortunately all the major protein companies have been raising their prices this year. The common theme is "rising raw materials costs" and more increases are coming. Our prices on some of the proteins we carry are still lower than the Optimum 100% Whey Gold Standard but once our supplies bought at the lower costs are gone, those will be going up too. Right now some of the best deals on our site are for the Optimum 100% Classic Whey 5 lb, the EAS MyoPro 5 lb the Met-Rx Ultramyosyn Whey 5 lb and the NOW Foods Whey Protein 5 lb."

I found a good deal at VitaGlo.com Atkins, NOW Vitamins, EAS, Protein Low Prices & FREE* Shipping!. $60 for 10 lb bag of optimum nutrition shipped. Expect to pay around $35 per 5 lb tub going forward, so stock up while you can.

Yup, I got hit with the increase on my last re-up.

Interesting.

I wonder if it really is b/c of rising cost of raw materials, or if it falls into the "because we can" category. People aren't going to quit buying supplements, and they know it.

They have us all hooked man. It's a conspiracy.

It because of a rise in corn prices which has a knock-on effect on milk prices.
It's mentioned near the end of this article TESTOSTERONE NATION - ATOMIC DOG: An Immorality Tale
The bit about maltodextrin being added because it tests as protein is pretty worrying

hmmm, so Rush Limbaugh was right.

He mentioned that as the price of corn went up, so would just about everything else, since corn is used to feed the animals that produce all our meat and dairy products, high fructose corn syrup is in practically everything. That corn is more related to our food supply as a whole than people think.

Just wait and see what'll happen if ethylene really takes off.

the guys at AtLarge had to raise Nitrean prices earlier this year. However, it was like $2...not the 10-15% that most supp companies add every 2 years 'just because they can'.

So, part of it is inflation, transport fees cuz gas is so spendy...and part of it is greed.

The funny thing is I was watching some 'how it's made' type of show about cheese making (OK, I'm a nerd) and they explained how whey was long considered just a waste product from cheesemaking and they simply threw it out. Now that they found a market for it they condense it to whey protein isolates and charge an arm and a leg for it.

I went to my local Meijer store and found Body Fortress 100% Whey Protein for $12 for 2 lbs. Looking at the ingredients and nutritional info I found very little difference between it and more popular brands (like Optimum Nutrition) In fact, the only differences I found was that the Body Fortress had a little less cholesterol and didn't have a bunch of fancy flavors.

It was still the best price for a blend that I found. I was going to get ON Pro Complex until I found it didnt contain casein. Nitrean rules!