Does whey need to be taken on empty stomach?

[Basilico]

I've tried searching both online and on this forum to find the answer to my questions, and couldn't really find much of anything anywhere (unless I overlooked something). I'm hoping that some of the very smart people here can help me to understand how to use whey properly, because our first usage of it was a slight disaster.

I just got a very high quality grass-fed non-denatured whey protein powder for my husband, who has CFS and posts here sometimes. After reading an article that described how Cheney used whey in his clinic (patients took 10-20mg on an empty stomach first thing in the morning and he even sometimes had them take an antacid beforehand to avoid stomach acid digesting the whey), we decided that he would follow the same protocol. (I should preface this by saying he has no milk/casein/lactose allergies whatsoever). He took 2 Tums on an empty stomach, then drank the whey protein mixed with water. Within about 1 hour, he got one of his famous IBS diarrhea attacks (which lately have not been happening frequently). He's thinking it happened because ultimately it's not a good thing to have any undigested protein hit the intestine, and that could be what triggered him (undigested meat is a huge IBS trigger for his mom, which was solved by taking HCl with her meals). So, we're planning to try it again tomorrow without the Tums and/or possibly with a meal to see if he reacts differently.

My questions are:

1) Is it actually important to take non-denatured whey on an empty stomach? Is this how you folks who take whey are consuming it?

2) If protein is broken down into amino acids in the stomach via stomach acid, doesn't this mean that amino acids can handle exposure to an acidic environment without degrading?

3) And lastly, does the presence of stomach acid completely negate any benefit of taking this stuff?

 

[Basilico]

update: He took the same amount of whey this morning on empty stomach, but this time no antacid and had no problem with it whatsoever (so it was clearly the antacid that caused the problem). I'm still hoping that someone has some insight to share about why taking it on empty stomach is important (if it is) and why exposure to stomach acid would be problematic, since it really doesn't make sense to me.

 

[PeterPositive]

Dairy product can be powerful triggers for people with IBS/IBD and whey is a concentrate of casein... Does your husband tolerate dairy products?

cheers

 

[Basilico]

He has no problems with dairy at all.

 

[alicec]

it really doesn't make sense to me.

Doesn't make sense to me either.

 

[Mary]

@Basilico - I just read that the rationale for taking single amino acids on an empty stomach is so they don't have to compete with protein for absorption. I do take amino acids on an empty stomach and do well with them.
.
Re whey protein - perhaps the empty stomach is to avoid competing with other proteins for absorption - e.g., eggs or bacon, am just guessing here. But I would never take an antacid before eating anything.

It's interesting that your husband's mother gets IBS with undigested protein (I take HCL with protein meals too) and your husband had the exact same thing with the antacid.

So I think it should be fine for your husband to have the whey on an empty stomach, minus the antacid. I'm also guessing it's possible your husband may have issues similar to his mother re stomach acid, or lack thereof.