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Anecdotal Experiences with Whey Protein Supplementation?

Messages
99
Hi, I'm just going to make this post to maybe get everyone who's had some benefit with Whey Protein supplementation.

I've been very fortunate in my *whatever this is* to stay mild.

I'm beginning to think this is because prior, I was an athlete that supplemented daily with Whey Protein.

I noticed a decline in my baseline at the start of the pandemic, gyms closed, I had stopped supplementation, crashing more and longer, with new symptoms - Body itching, muscle twitching, severe anxiety.

There seems to be a momentum I can keep if I do a "thing" that crashes me, and slowly push a threshold of that thing, until it's tolerable.

I know this is counterintuitive, but my *whatever this condition is* works like this:

Cerebral activity or physical gives me PEM- I stay in PEM until I exercise out of it.

Even PEM induced by a new physical activity/intensity, I will stay stuck in until I do some activity to get out of it, then I return to baseline.

Strange, I know, maybe it's a blood flow/vaso-dilation issue, or some brain mechanism related to endorphins

what works for me: Wake up, black coffee, no food, some activity, immediately followed by Whey Protein supplementation, I keep my carbs low until I absolutely crave them.

this pattern seems to keep me at a relatively mild baseline, and really cuts PEM down, I'm attributing this to Whey Protein, anyone else have similar courses?
 

uglevod

Senior Member
Messages
220
Maybe without whey your gut has started to leak more bacteria/toxins:


Commercial whey products promote intestinal barrier function with glycomacropeptide enhanced activity in downregulating bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-induced inflammation in vitro
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/fo/d0fo00487a
Cheese whey contains bioactive compounds which have shown multiple health-promoting benefits. This study aimed to assess the commercial whey products (CWP) whey protein isolate (WPI), galacto-oligosaccharide-whey protein concentrate (GOS-W) and glycomacropeptide (GMP) for their potential to improve intestinal health in vitro using HT29-MTX intestinal goblet and Caco-2 epithelial cells. Results from HT29-MTX culture showed that WPI mitigated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production at a higher extent compared to GOS-W or GMP. However, GMP downregulated the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced TLR-4 inflammatory pathway with the highest potency compared to the other CWP. Biomarkers of epithelial integrity assessed on both cell lines showed tight junction proteins claudin-1, claudin-3, occludin (OCC), and zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) upregulation by GMP in HT29-MTX (1.33–1.93-fold of control) and in Caco-2 cells (1.56–2.09-fold of control). All CWP increased transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) in TNF-α challenged Caco-2/HT29-MTX co-culture monolayer (p < 0.05), but only GMP was similar to the positive control TGF-β1, known for its role in promoting epithelial barrier function. The TNF-α-induced co-culture monolayer permeability was prevented at similar levels by all CWP (p < 0.05). In conclusion, CWP may be used as functional food ingredients to protect against intestinal disorders with emphasis on the GMP enhanced anti-inflammatory and intestinal barrier function properties. Further in vivo studies are guaranteed to validate these findings.
[..]
Previous work has suggested a significant role exerted by milk components on epithelial barrier integrity due in part to their anti-inflammatory mechanisms. For instance, a freeze-dried low-fat yogurt was found to enhance TEER of differentiated Caco-2 monolayers subjected to LPS and pro-inflammatory cytokines challenge, and this effect was accompanied by permeability values similar to those found in vehicle controls. Overall, findings from this study suggest the potential of CWP[commercial whey products] in protecting intestinal barrier integrity, thus preventing the transport of bacteria and toxins to the systemic circulation and promoting gut homeostasis.