Does whey protein powder have any side effects?

The following articles are reproduced from the Internet and represent personal opinions for everyone to discuss and learn, which will help us understand whey protein powder. (If you have a good argument that can be argued, please provide your email address yypoqyy2@qq.com)


To date, there is no scientific report that proves that high protein intake will cause kidney damage in healthy athletes. Animal experiments have not been able to prove it.

Don’t forget that millions of athletes have taken high-dose protein powders for decades, and there has not been a single case of a healthy athlete suffering from kidney failure due to protein powder. If high doses of protein powder would cause too much burden on the kidneys as we imagine, then there would be many athletes today suffering from kidney damage.

I am a professional training coach and have helped train and provide advice to many top athletes in various sports. I know that there is a bodybuilder who consumes much more than the recommended amount of protein powder every day (he eats 600 grams a day), but his kidneys There were never any issues as I kept reading his blood reports. What is my conclusion? It is absolutely harmless to consume no more than the recommended amount of protein (1 to 1.5 grams per pound of body weight) per day! Of course, eating too much protein powder for too long may put extra burden on the kidneys, but it is unlikely to cause serious consequences like kidney failure for a healthy athlete.

First of all, all the cases we have heard of kidney damage from protein powder are from people who have had kidney disease before. We should know that dietary protein will form ammonia (a toxic substance) when it enters the body. One of the functions of our kidneys is to convert ammonia into urea (basically non-toxic) and then excrete it. If a person has serious kidney problems, any excessive urea conversion will increase the burden on his kidneys. Logically speaking, there is no problem with protein powder itself. If a person has kidney problems, he may not be able to do many things like Supplemented like ordinary people.

Another theory is that protein intake can lead to osteoporosis. So what is osteoporosis? Pathologically, osteoporosis is caused by a combination of several risk factors: (carbohydrate, protein, fat) intake, (minerals, vitamins, etc.) intake, hormonal levels, lack of exercise, gender, family Genetics and so on. There is a theory that after the body absorbs a large amount of protein, the blood will become acidic. At this time, our body needs to use the minerals in the bones to "neutralize" the acidity of the blood, which will eventually cause the loss of calcium in the bones. The problem is that even if there is an obvious causal effect between protein powder and osteoporosis (which there is not), an athlete who exercises regularly will have normal exercise, calories, minerals, vitamin intake or hormone levels than the average person. Research reports show that athletes have significantly higher bone density than the average person. As I said above, millions of athletes who consume high protein every day almost never develop osteoporosis. Even those athletes who have retired or are very old seem to have nothing to do with osteoporosis.

In fact, a recent research report is quite interesting: a group of women who consumed high protein had higher bone density than the same control group. The researchers concluded that the increase in protein powder and IFG-1 promotes bone growth. I probably wouldn't advise postmenopausal women to eat more protein powder, since we're talking about athletes after all. The conclusion is that given that athletes' risk factors for osteoporosis are already low, protein intake does not increase their risk, especially within recommended amounts.

Final conclusion: Protein powder is actually not mysterious. It is a convenient and easy-to-absorb protein supplement. Protein is a basic nutrient for human survival, allowing the body to stay adequate. Protein is more beneficial to health than a lack of protein in the body!

Related reading: What happens if you drink too much protein powder?