What’s the Problem with Whey?

What’s the Problem with Whey Protein?

Before getting deeper into this topic, let’s look at the most common problems that come up in connection with whey and most animal proteins.

• They are not combined with the necessary fibres and fito-nutrients, so they are not as efficiently absorbed.

• Very often they come from animals that were given hormones, and our milk today doesn’t have such a valuable content as it used to have in the past.

• They generate water in and take calcium out of the body.

• At least 70% of the people are allergic to these proteins, even if they don’t know about it (silent allergy).

• They cause articular problems (pain in the knees, shoulders, elbows and the back).

• They cause bloating and can’t be easily digested.

• Vegans and those who are allergic to milk can’t use them.

• These proteins (milk, egg and even beef protein through cross-allergy) can cause allergic symptoms.

• They can contribute to amino acidaemia and the toxemia of the intestines.

• They often contain doubtful or not clearly indicated ingredients.

• According to some researches, they can cause liver and kidney problems in the long run.

Naturally, such proteins have positive characteristics as well (taste, price, amino acid profile) so let’s see how these can balance the negative effects listed above.

About using proteins in a nutshell

Protein is an essential nutrient that everybody needs every day. Proteins can be divided into essential and non-essential amino acids, which are the building blocks of a healthy organism.

The roles of proteins in the body are the following:

• repairing the cells of the body

• building and repairing the muscles and bones

• providing energy

• controlling important processes in metabolism

No doubt that people often need an extra intake of protein especially when they regularly do sports or are on a special diet.

If you regularly do sports

No matter what sport you like (running, aerobics, weight-lifting, CrossFit or the more and more trendy street workout), if you do sports regularly, your body needs an extra intake of protein for the normal working of your muscles and for preventing the loss of muscles. More protein intake means that you are more effective, get more fit, regenerate faster so it’s not only body builders who have to take in an adequate quantity of protein.

If you don’t eat animal based foods

The other typical case is when your special diet doesn’t contain enough protein. Such is the vegan diet because vegetables simply don’t provide the minimally necessary amount of protein (around 45-50g/day, according to WHO).

Taking in protein is essential so it’s no wonder that different nutritional supplements and protein powders have appeared as they are the most comfortable and efficient forms of protein intake, the most popular types still being the whey proteins.

What is whey and why is it popular?

Whey protein is a by-product of milk-based cheese making and being such there are great amounts of it so it was obvious to use them. This is how different whey protein powders were created and have become popular in the past 20-25 years.

The main advantages of whey:

• The protein content of whey protein concentrate is high, it varies from 29% to 85% depending on the type but the clearest concentrates can even reach 90% (but not higher, especially if they add flavouring and additives).

• It has a complete amino acid profile and high biological value. If we examine the ingredients only, it would be evident that everybody should use whey and more so if we talk about premium quality whey concentrates.

• There are a lot of types with different flavours, in Hungary there are at least a hundred different varieties and you can find them in every gym, that’s why most body builders start with whey protein products.

• They taste good although this is due to the significant amount of sweeteners added to the products.

So far all sounds great.

What is still the problem with whey?

In spite of the positive effects summarized above, whey is very allergenic. This is caused not only by lactose or casein (the main allergenic materials in milk) but also by the main proteins of whey (beta lactoglobulin, alfa lactalbumin and bovine serum albumin), which are very allergenic as well. The level of cholesterol is also higher in most whey types than what is considered healthy. It’s worth examining how many people are allergic to whey because the official data state that only 1-3% are. However, if we consider all people allergic who get mucous, have constipation or get bloated from whey, then we can probably count with 60-70%. In addition, if we consider those people who experience minor inflammation (and water retention), then some say this ratio can reach even 80%. There are no official researches confirming these numbers but the experts working with athletes and body builders count with these numbers. This kind of silent allergy (when someone doesn’t have symptoms and tolerates dairy products well) is dangerous because often the more problematic symptoms occur only later in life, e.g. hay fever. It has been observed several times that the allergic reactions and uncomfortable symptoms lessened or ceased when people stopped the consumption of dairy products.

Let’s examine the actual cases

You know that you have to avoid whey if:

• you suffer from milk sensitivity or lactose intolerance (they are not the same!). If that’s the case, then probably you haven’t been using whey protein powders because even the best quality whey protein products are made from milk and contain lactose, so you have to avoid using them.

• you are on a vegan or milk-free diet and don’t eat animal based proteins. If you don’t consume dairy products because you don’t want to, that’s great because more and more studies show that grown-up people don’t need milk, our body cannot digest it properly and that the consumption of dairy products can have several negative consequences in the long run. By the way, it’s only humans who still drink milk as grown-ups and although a lot of people think they benefit from this, experience shows that milk is more harmful than healthy for the grown-up body. This is because most grown-ups simply cannot digest milk. As Arnold, the greatest body builder of all times said: “Milk is for babies”.

We can also mention the new trend: diets based on blood type. You can either believe in this or not, but it’s a fact that more and more top athletes pay attention to eating foods that are in harmony with their blood types and it’s also a fact that they never do anything without a good reason. If your blood type is 0, it’s worth trying a milk-free diet as you might experience a serious increase in your achievement in the gym.

You can read more about blood type diets here and here.

It’s more difficult if you don’t know about your sensitivity to milk or lactose but you still experience the following when using whey products (more than half of the people who use whey experience one or more symptoms from the following):

• Bloating. You may think this is normal (“milk shake makes you bloated and that’s it”) but bloating always means some kind of digestive problem. Your body is struggling with digesting the protein, which – besides the well-known and obvious side effects – weakens your body because the extra digestion takes energy from other processes thus causing a feeling of weariness.

• Pain in the joints. If you feel pain in your knees, elbows or shoulders when you move or under pressure, it might be caused by too much milk consumption. Of course, it can be caused by other things too, but in several cases a milk-free diet can stop such pains. If you lift weights during training, it’s especially important that your joints are all right, which means one more reason to limit or drop dairy products from your diet.

• diarrhea

• If you get too filled up with your milk shake (feel the difference between drinking whey protein shake or brown rice protein shake before training).

Although whey producers often doubt it, several articles and studies talk about the more severe side effects of whey, like allergic reactions, kidney and liver problems, weariness, bloating and thirst. We don’t wish to take sides in this topic but it’s better to know about the risks, especially if you have experienced one of the symptoms mentioned above.

Nobody says, naturally, that whey contains dangerous or toxic materials because you can use it for years without any symptoms. Nobody says, either, that you have to give up on your favourite cheese or latte in the morning (although it is recommended). However, you consume dairy products because of their taste (contrary to whey), so it’s reasonable to take in at least the extra amount of protein from a natural and healthy source.

All in all, we can say that even if you don’t have any problems, it’s still worth choosing natural and non-milk sources of protein supplements, because you don’t know what the long-term effects of whey consumption are going to be. It’s worth trying non-milk proteins for, let’s say, a month or so and it’s very much possible that you are going to feel much better, have more energy and sport is going to be more enjoyable, too. Were these not to happen, you can still get back to whey.

Whey versus brown rice protein

Let’s start with the most important and now official fact that brown rice protein made from whole grains is as efficient as whey protein.A clinical research has shown that there was no difference in muscle strength or the increase of muscles between groups of weightlifters who ate brown rice protein and who ate whey protein after training. As for efficiency, the results of the two groups were the same.

Brown rice protein fans have been saying this for a long time and now that this has been proved by tests, too, we consider it a great achievement!

Just think, rice protein is so much better than whey (there is no sensitivity, there are no allergic reactions, it can be digested easily and you can use it for any diet), still, many people were afraid that it is not going to be as efficient as whey protein. Now that this fear has been beaten, there are not many reasons left in favour of whey.

This positive outcome is also due to the following fact. Although in regard to one or two amino acids, even complete brown rice protein is still behind whey (although our own tests showed that whey is better in case of only 5 amino acids and not all of them are essential), it can be evenly and more efficiently absorbed, more easily digested, and because of its fibres and fito-nutrients, the body can use the protein in brown rice better. So in spite of the fewer amino acids, the ones that get into the body from brown rice protein are used more efficiently, more get into the blood circuit and finally they build and preserve muscles just as well as whey proteins. To use an analogy, even if you have a 600 HP Ferrari, you can’t make much of it on snow. This is the same with people in case of whey consumption: most of them cannot use its benefits as efficiently as they should in theory.

It’s merely an extra thing that during a Hungarian lab test, only 5 out of 17 amino acids were measured to have higher values in a given whey product (a popular brand) than in Naturize® brown rice protein. What’s more, in two cases the difference was only minor and in another case it wasn’t an essential amino acid that was less in the product. This result surprised even vegetable protein fans.

Let’s check a comparative table about the different proteins:

Shall I throw out my favourite whey protein then?

You don’t need to do this. If you don’t experience any side effects or just a few when using whey protein (e.g. a little bloating), then mix it with a 100% natural brown rice protein powder in any ratio. Thus you can use up your whey protein, you don’t have to miss the usual taste (most whey products are over-sweetened so this way you can lighten this taste, too) and you can also reduce the amount of undesirable ingredients.

If you are not vegan or sensitive to milk and you still like milk based nutritional supplements, it’s still worth varying your diet with vegetable protein powders. These have been proved to reduce inflammation in the body, they are easy to digest, and ease stiffness more efficiently than milk based proteins thus being an ideal choice for active people who like sports and are conscious about their health.