Ryse is a popular supplement brand, but we had some concerns about the healthiness of their best-selling product in our Ryse Pre-Workout review article. The brand's protein powder is another best-seller.

But does Ryse Protein provide an effective protein dose for muscle-building? Does it contain any unhealthy ingredients? Are Ryse's newer offerings like Clear Protein better-formulated? And is Ryse Protein better or worse than popular protein brands like Optimum Nutrition?

In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Ryse Protein to give our take on whether or not it's effectively dosed, and whether or not it's healthy.

We'll also analyze the formulations of Ryse Clear Protein and Ryse Jet-Puffed Protein, and compare Ryse to other popular protein brands to pick our winners.

Key takeaways:

• Contains effective protein dose for muscle-building
• Contains artificial sweeteners we consider unhealthy
• We do not currently recommend Ryse Protein

Ingredient Analysis

The ingredients in Ryse Cinnamon Toast Protein are shown below:

Whey protein is the first ingredient, and is included at a dose of 25 grams (g) per serving, which is within the optimal range for muscle building post-workout, according to clinical studies.

Other than the two forms of whey, there are a number of inactive ingredients we consider to be unhealthy.

Acesulfame potassium is an artificial sweetener which has been shown in animal studies to disrupt gut function, as we documented in our Gold Standard Whey Protein review article.

Sucralose is an artificial sweetener that decreased insulin sensitivity by around 18% in a 2018 clinical trial. Insulin sensitivity affects blood sugar levels.

Natural and artificial flavors are used as flavoring agents, and artificial flavors were shown in a 2018 clinical trial to be toxic to animals.

Salt is included at a dose of 240 milligrams (mg), which seems wholly unnecessary for a protein powder in our opinion.

Many Americans already have excess dietary sodium intake according to a 2016 population study.

Carrageenan is a thickening ingredient derived from seaweed that has been shown in animal studies to cause gut dysfunction.

Overall, we consider Ryse Protein likely to support post-workout muscle building due to its effective protein dose.

However, we don't currently recommend this product due to all of the inactive ingredients discussed above.

Ryse vs. Popular Protein Supps

Here's how Ryse compares to other popular protein supplement brands in terms of potential effectiveness and healthiness, in our opinion:

Optimum Nutrition

Gold Standard Whey by Optimum Nutrition is one of the most popular protein supplements on the market, and one of the least healthy.

Contains all of the inactive ingredients we called out as unhealthy in Ryse, plus artificial food dye.

Winner: Ryse Protein

Gainful

Contains green tea extract at an unspecified dose, which is a consumer health issue, because this ingredient can harm the liver at high doses.

Marketed as a "personalized" protein option, which we consider unscientific, for reasons explained in our Gainful Protein review article.

Winner: Ryse Protein

Seeq

Contains one fewer artificial sweetener than Ryse, and is free from artificial flavors.

Still contains inactive ingredients we consider unhealthy, but we consider it a healthier option than Ryse.

Winner: Seeq

Are Ryse's Other Formulations Better?

Since initially publishing this article, Ryse has released many new protein supplements.

Here's our take on the most popular of the new releases:

Clear Protein

Product page only shows "Main Ingredients" and not the full ingredients panel, which is a consumer safety issue.

Contains two artificial sweeteners, as well as citric acid which is clinically shown to cause whole-body inflammation in some individuals.

Verdict: Don't recommend

Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Protein

Similar formulation to Clear Protein: contains artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners and other "processed" ingredients.

Essentially no ingredients of nutritive value other than the protein.

Verdict: Don't recommend

Our Clean Protein Picks

MBG Whey Protein Isolate+ is our top overall protein powder.

Whey protein is a "complete" protein, meaning it contains all nine essential amino acids.

Anthony's Organic Hemp Protein is our top vegan protein pick.

It's extremely nutrient-dense, providing 25% of the Daily Value (DV) of iron and 8% of the DV of potassium.

Both of the products recommended in this section are entirely free of additive ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.

Ryse Protein Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Effective protein dose
• Positive Amazon reviews

Cons:

• Contains artificial sweeteners
• Contains artificial flavors
• Brand's website fails to clearly publish ingredients
• Contains gum fillers
• Contains 240 mg sodium
• Brand's website charges for shipping
• Unclear if whey protein is sourced from grass-fed animals

Conclusion

We consider Ryse Protein to be one of the least healthy protein powders we've reviewed to date on Illuminate Health.

It provides an effective protein dose for muscle-building, but that doesn't make it stand out because the vast majority of protein powders that we've reviewed also have an effective protein dose per serving.

Ryse contains a number of inactive ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy, like artificial sweeteners and artificial flavors.

This protein powder also has the highest sodium dose of any protein powder we've reviewed to date, and we're unsure why.

Customer reviews of Ryse Protein on Amazon are mostly favorable.

We consider Ryse Protein to be a better-formulated option than Optimum Nutrition and Gainful Protein, but less healthy than Seeq.

We analyzed the ingredients in two of Ryse's newer formulations (Clear Protein and Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Protein) and consider both to be just as unhealthy as the initial formulation reviewed.