What is Whey Protein?
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Photo by Supplements On Demand
By: Mark Sisson
When most people think about whey protein, they think about building muscle. Protein shakes at the gym. Meal replacement drinks in lieu of real food.
The six-meal-and-three-snack-a-day bro who keeps a whey shake on his bedside table to maintain those 2 AM gains.
The up-at-dawn-to-beat-rush-hour woman who drinks a shake in the car in lieu of a pastry.
As most people see it, whey protein’s just for people who want more protein in their diets, people who don’t have the time to cook, or people who hate to cook and also need more protein. It’s for weight lifters and athletes. It’s a “poor replacement” for real food. It’s a compromise when life happens. If you can cook and eat real food regularly, the popular story goes, you don’t need whey protein. Just eat real food—right?
But there’s actually much more to whey than just building muscle.
What is Whey Protein?
Whey is a protein-packed byproduct of cheese production. It’s that pseudo-clear liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. Cheese makers used to toss it aside as waste material, turn it into ricotta cheese, or feed it to livestock until food scientists started to understand its value as a protein supplement for humans.
Today, we know that whey protein is the single best supplementary source of complete essential amino acids. It contains all the essential amino acids we need to promote muscle protein synthesis and muscle growth. is far more than a byproduct of cheese-making. It’s also more than just a single protein. Instead, it houses an impressive array of components with a wide variety of biological effects: beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, lactoferrin, and immunoglobulins.
Beta-lactoglobulin:
Promotes glutathione synthesis and reduces allergic disease incidence.Improves retinol/vitamin A absorption and uptake.Increases serotonin levels in plasma. May have anti-tumor effects.
Lactoferrin:
Improves bone healing and prevents bone loss. Chelates excessive iron, preventing it from fueling infections (many bacteria require iron), increasing inflammation, or becoming carcinogenic.Has anti-bacterial effects against food pathogens like E. coli and Listeria.
Immuno-globulins (A, M, G):
Neutralize toxins from viruses and bacteria. Prevent adhesion of bacteria to tissues.Inhibit bacterial growth.
Those are just a few of the components found in that undigested whey powder sitting in your pantry. Once the whey hits your GI tract, it forms even more bioactive peptides with their own unique effects. Some improve blood lipids, lower blood pressure, or act as opioid receptor agonists (if you’ve ever seen a milk-drunk baby bliss out after nursing, his opioid receptors are likely being severely agonized by bioactive whey peptides). Others induce satiety and improve metabolic health biomarkers.
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