Why Is Whey Protein Unhealthy?

[The Monk]

there are many benefits to whey protein as it:

• Aids weight loss.
•  Has Anti-cancer properties.
• Lowers cholesterol.
•  helps asthma,
• Lowers blood pressure and risk of disease.
• Reduces weight loss in HIV positive patients.

So, if the benefits are so great and the risks aren't high why do so many people say it's bad? Are they just paranoid because of potential chemicals?

risks

• stomach pains
• cramps
• reduced appetite
• nausea
• headache
• fatigue

 

Edited October 18, 2017 by The Monk

[Richard Alpert]

almost all the benefits you mentioned are false and they actually have the reverse influence.

on general dairy products:

add weight, get cancer, worsens astma and get sick from all the mucus from dairy, destroy colon.

who the hell it can aid weight loss and on hiv patients reduce weight loss? What kind of backward logic is this?

whey would have been thrown into garbage pin but someone thought that bodybuilders are so stupid that we can market it to them.

[ajasatya]

@The Monk do some research on the source of milk to produce the huge amount of whey protein that we see around.

it usually comes through extremely violent means.

stop thinking about health as an isolated thing that occurs on your body. health is a phenomena that happens worldwide. it happens through you. it's Life expressing itself with abundance.

you can't be healthy when the soil is suffering due to mono agriculture of soy to feed thousands and thousands of cows that will have milk extracted violently. they separate the calves from their mothers and kill them if they're male.

get out of the mud.

Edited October 18, 2017 by ajasatya

[Siim Land]

Real grass-fed whey can be okay. The problem is that the fitness industry has stigmatized all whey protein and added a ton of other substances, starting from dextrose and ending with artificial sweeteners. That's where the issues begin. With that being said, whey protein is used for bodybuilding for a reason as it's one of the highest anabolic foods in the world. Rapid muscle recovery but in excess will overstimulate IGF-1, leading to gyno, bloating, inflammation, tumor growth and potentially cancer. It all depends on the quality of the product and the dosage.

[The Monk]

@Siim Land you seem like a well informed guy man, so I'm going to ask what do you think about what Richard Alpert said about this topic? When people say stuff like that it makes me just want to quit going gym and stop trying to be healthy, this shit just scares me all the time.

[Amdo90]

first i tell u i am blood pressure Patient , Is eating steak, chicken, milk, nuts or fish bad for your health?

[Siim Land]

 

@The Monk Truth is most fitness supplements are laden with unhealthy substances, contaminated with toxic metals and hormonally jeopardizing. Most professional bodybuilders have huge gut issues and probably will die prematurely. Steroids have to do with it but also abusing pre-workouts, and protein shakes with dextrose etc. With that being said, I think small quantities of quality products are a good idea. Not only for the diverted benefits on muscle growth and mitochondrial density but also building up tolerances for dairy. You never want to exclude all allergens completely because you'll leave yourself more susceptible to disease

[Nahm]

@The Monk it’s all relative. If you’re starving to death, anything is good to eat. If you have the time and focus to do your research, not everything is good to eat. Good as in beneficial relative to what you want. 

 

[Michael569]

@The Monk one of the issues with the milk is that most of it on the market shelves has undergone the pasteurisation process. During this process, the ensyme Lactase is denaturated and lost. Our bodies than have to compensate for this loss by producing our own enzymes which is easy while we are young but the older you get the more burdening it is for your body. That's why consuming raw milk is ok but in most US countries, that is forbiden and you are still facing risk of salmonella and bacteria contagion like E-coli. 

Second risk is the already mentioned levels of Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) which helps a young calf to grow to large cow. This hormone is being produced in humans until the age of around 20 but than stops. With milk, you continue receiving it and your cells and tissues grow, potentially stimulating tumour growth. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.aih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4524299/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16684388  conclusion - "variation in childhood milk and dairy product intakes underlies associations of leg length, IGF-I and cancer risk. The association appears to be due to the protein content of milk."

Another case is a risk of Osteoporosis ( loss of bone mass)  and various bone disease due to high acidity of milk. This strains both your thyroid gland and kidneys to compensate by releasing more calcium. Not surprisingly, the United States, country with massive dairy consumption has highest rates of Osteoporosis/ Osteopenia, Osteoarthridis, Multiple-sclerosis and other similar conditions. 

If you are a healthy and active individual you can pretty much counter the negative effects of dairy but it adds unnecessary strain on your digestive system. Our bodies are already heavily bombarded by pollution, EMF, herbicides, heavy metals etc. You want to reduce that as much as possible. Going dairy free and switching to plant proteins can definitely help you do that. 

I know you asked about Whey but consider the fact that whey is biproduct of milk processing so all of the above apply. I agree that there are many benefits especially in sports supplementation but those are not worth the rick considering that you can purchase things like hemp or rice protein which are probably equally effective and actually cost less. 1kg of rice protein may as well cost 15 USD.  Plant based eating combined with heavy exercise will give you all the gains you need without contributing to the destruction of the earth, global warming, death, deforestation and global disease rate. 

 

 

[zazed]

Looking purely at the health aspects, whey can be healthy in moderate amounts. Protein is unhealthy in high amounts anyway.
I know of no studies looking at only the whey aspect of milk regarding to health, either negative or positive. 
As others have pointed out, soy protein, rice protein, pea protein,hemp protein are good alternatives, if you want to play it safe. 

That said, whey protein extraction, is perhaps one of the few exceptions where industrial extraction actually make it cleaner than the source product.
Interesting fact, human milk is 60% whey and 40% casein, cow's is 80% casein and 20% whey. Which may suggest according to my bro-science, that we are more likely "evolved/built" to handle whey proteins. Cancer study's implicating cancer where done feeding rats pure casein, not milk, nor whey. 

100g quality whey contains:

• 5g fats
• 4g sugars (lactose)
• 82g protein (99%whey)
• 0.5g salt

Since 100g is a lot, and milk is mostly water. Lets compare it to 1litre of lowfat milk:

• 9.5g fats
• 50.8g sugars (lactose)
• 32.9g protein (80% casein, 20% whey)

As you can see, these two products don't even resemble each other anymore, you can scarcely call whey a "milk product". Milk contains lots of sugar. Most of its protein is also casein. And even lowfat milk contains more fat than whey. It's so different due to the industrial extraction of the whey.

Most of the health risks of milk are in the lactose, casein and hormones. None of these survive the extraction process.
Mucus is caused by the casein, bloating is caused by the lactose, cancer is caused by the casein.
What you are left with, is basically quality amino's, and virtually no vitamins, sugars or fats.

It is why whey is the only animal product i allow in my diet, in very low amounts (10-20g). While my diet is vegan otherwise.
This because it is cheaper, more readily available, and mixes/tastes better in my morning oatmeal with almond milk  

 

[dustylocks]

Whey is extremely nutritionally dense and protein is definitely required to be healthy. 

Whether you personally do well with whey is another question, one that boils down to your individual genetics. If you're interested cut out all dairy for 2 weeks then bring it back into your diet. Notice any changes to skin, energy, bowel movements, gas etc.  

Saying whey causes cancer and disease is not accurate. Cancer and other diseases are complex, and usually a result of many factors. There  is a lot of bad science out there on meat and dairy. The moral aspects are another question entirely, but crusaders are quick to shout anything that supports their ideologies. 

Also interesting fact, some old tribes used to thrive off milk and blood from their animals. 

[Dan Arnautu]

@The Monk If you have one shake a day and the whey is fairly good quality, you won't have any problems. I see an incoming trend of hating all the things that you don't pick up fresh from a tree. Truth is, there's always gonna be bad versions of any product.

Pick a good product, use it and get on with your life. Too much focus on the small stuff.

[ppfeiff]

Why do you think you need protein in supplemented form?

[Ayilton]

On 10/18/2017 at 7:23 PM, ajasatya said:

@The Monk do some research on the source of milk to produce the huge amount of whey protein that we see around.

it usually comes through extremely violent means.

stop thinking about health as an isolated thing that occurs on your body. health is a phenomena that happens worldwide. it happens through you. it's Life expressing itself with abundance.

you can't be healthy when the soil is suffering due to mono agriculture of soy to feed thousands and thousands of cows that will have milk extracted violently. they separate the calves from their mothers and kill them if they're male.

get out of the mud.

Didnt know about that 

[JohnLeyo]

Whey protein is produced from milk. The manufacturing process removes most fat and milk sugars (carbohydrates) and leaves you with a convenient powder which is packed with protein and amino acids, making it very easy to add extra daily protein to your active and sporty lifestyle. Within the whey protein category there are different types of whey protein.

Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC)

The amount of protein in whey protein concentrate can vary between 25-89%.

Whey Protein Isolate (WPI)

WPI is the purest form of whey protein available and contains between 90-95% protein. It is a good protein source for individuals with lactose intolerance as it contains little or no lactose. WPIs are also very low in fat. The cost of a WPI will be slightly higher than WPC due to the purity and higher protein content.

Hydrolyzed Whey Protein

The long protein chains in the whey protein have been broken down into shorter chains called peptides. This makes the whey protein more easily absorbed by the body and may reduce the potential for allergic reactions. Hydrolyzed whey protein is often used in infant formulas and sports and medical nutrition products. Hydrolysis does not reduce the nutritional quality of the whey protein.

Is it safe?

Yes , make sure you buy it from a proper source.

Protein buying guide?

Content

Budget

Source

Brand value

How much is good for you ?

RDA recommends 0.8/gm body weight

Rest depends on your intensity of workout and training and diet

It may go as high as 4gm per kg body weight with no problems at all but yes measuring all other factors.

Is it important to be included in your diet?

No, if you can fulfill your protein needs with Class A protein sources that you may skip it

Class A - Veg- Paneer, tofu, cheese, curd, milk

Class A - non veg - Animal meat, fish

[Moreira]

I have gynecomastia from eating tons of whey and chicken during years.

This is how it works:

farmers dont give a fuk about our health, they want the max production so they inject antibiotics, vaccines, anabolic hormones and femenine hormones so their animals gain weight faster and grow bigger.

Thinking that this endocrine disruptors will disappear by cooking the meat or isolating the wey is just stupid.

We eat antibiotics and our immune system gets ovrerreactive, or suppressed and get ill very often.

Then the hormones, kids grow too quick and reach puberty at 11yo. Males eating this produce aromatase that increases tits and belly fat.

Edited December 26, 2017 by Moreira

[solr]

 

On 18.10.2017 at 1:45 PM, The Monk said:

So, if the benefits are so great and the risks aren't high why do so many people say it's bad?

Whey protein is not unhealthy. It's an easy source of protein which will build muscle and lower your weight. 

The reason why whey protein contributes to weight loss is simple. 20-35% of the calories in protein goes to thermic effect. This means if you eat 200 calories worth of protein, your body will use between 40 and 70 of them in digestion. 

Also. A diet based on a high protein intake will keep you full. Feeling full is extremely important when it comes to losing weight (or maintaining your weight).

I'm guessing a high percentage of the members on this forum doesn't eat meat. Whey protein is an amazing source of protein for non meat eaters.

High protein diets is highly common here in scandinavia. We don't have a lot of fat people here compared to the UK and US.

 

On 18.10.2017 at 1:45 PM, The Monk said:

Are they just paranoid because of potential chemicals?

Probably. There's chemicals in everything though. Even plants. Sure, you'll find dangerous chemicals in a lab, but you'll also find dangerous chemicals within plants in an untouched forest.

There's no significant difference in the properties of "natural" and "artificial" chemicals. (1) All foods contain chemicals, and all natural chemicals are toxic in the right amounts. (2) 

We don't use chemicals in unhealthy amounts when we produce human food - In the same way we don't use toxic plants in our salad.

Edited January 1, 2018 by solr

[Max_V]

@solr But there's dairy in it right?

I'm still learning a lot on nutrition but what from I've heard, dairy causes a lot of unwanted effects for your health and bodily state.

This is the main reason I've been avoiding it.

[solr]

@Max_V Yes. I guess there's dairy free protein powder available for purchase though, if you feel like avoiding it.

Edited January 1, 2018 by solr

[FitGirl252]

I just came across this question. As a few people mentioned, whey protein can sometimes be seen as bad since not all of it is created equal. 

There is grass fed whey (highest quality and healthiest), grain fed whey, and others that will claim to be organic but really don't have much nutritious value at all. For a full breakdown of the difference, this article basically explains it all. 

https://nutrologyonline.com/way-better-blog/the-truth-about-whey-grass-fed-vs-organic-/