Hi, Sasha.
I'll give you my views on the whey protein issue in ME/CFS, for what they are worth.
First, in my experience, most PWMEs/PWCs report that they do better on a high-protein diet. I believe that the reason for this is that they are not able to burn carbs and fats for fuel as well as normal, because of a partial block of aconitase in the Krebs cycle, resulting from glutathione depletion. As a result, they burn amino acids from protein more than normal. Some amino acids can enter the Krebs cycle downstream of the partial blockade, and transaminase reactions can convert one amino acid to another, with the help of vitamin B6 as a cofactor, so that they can be fed to the Krebs cycle and burned for energy, to supply ATP.
If PWMEs/PWCs continue to consume carbs or fats at the levels they did before they became ill, significant amounts of these will be converted to stored fat, and they will gain weight, but still be starved for fuel.
Among the available proteins, whey protein has the best match to the needs of the human body, in terms of its relative proportions of the amino acids that make up protein.
Egg protein used to be the best, before whey protein was commercialized a few years ago. The only way I know of to get protein with a better matched amino acid composition would be to become a cannibal, but that has certain drawbacks!
-)
There are three grades of whey protein. The cheapest is the type sold in the big plastic jars. It is a byproduct of cheesemaking. The curds go into cheesemaking, and the whey used to be dumped, before Dr. Gustavo Bounous, then at McGill University in Canada, showed that it was high-quality protein a few years ago. After that, it became a profitable product. This first grade has been through pasteurization and acid treatment in order to separate the curds from the whey, and the proteins have become denatured, i.e. their molecules no longer have their natural shapes. Also certain sensitive proteins have been broken down, including lactoferrin and the immunoglobulins, so they aren't present. Also, the cysteine in the proteins has been oxidized to cystine.
The second grade is the so-called undenatured whey protein (which is a misnomer, because whey protein that has become denatured can't be "un"-denatured. A better name for this grade is whey protein isolate.) This is also a byproduct of cheesemaking. The starting material has been through pasteurization and acid treatment. However, it is more refined than the first grade. It has been through some filtration, so that a lot of the damaged protein fragments have been removed. Some of these products have had lactoferrin added back in. However, they are still missing the immunoglobulins, and the cysteine has been oxidized to cystine.
The third and highest grade is the truly nondenatured whey protein. This is not a byproduct of cheesemaking, and it has not been subjected to high temperatures for pasteurization or to acid treatment. These proteins still have their natural shapes. The cysteine has not been oxidized to cystine. Lactoferrin and the immunoglobulins are naturally present. This grade of course costs the most, but it also has additional benefits, especially in terms of helping to control unfriendly bacteria in the gut, and in supporting the immune system. The unoxidized cysteine is readily absorbed by the liver, and can be used to make glutathione, while the oxidized form cystine is not well-absorbed by the liver, and is mostly processed by the kidneys. Some is returned to the blood as cysteine, and can be used by the liver.
The available truly nondenatured whey protein products include ImmunePro, RenewPro, True Whey, and Whey to Health.
One difficulty with whey protein in ME/CFS is that some people with this disorder cannot tolerate casein. This is also a problem for many people who have autism. Casein is the protein in milk that goes into the curd fraction, used for making cheese. However, the separation is not perfect, so that there can be a small amount of casein in whey protein. For this reason, most of the autism community stays away from whey protein. Some people with ME/CFS do well with it, and others can't tolerate it. The lack of tolerance could be due to the casein reaction, or to the fact that glutathione comes up and stimulates the immune system to begin fighting pathogens, or because cysteine rises too high and auto-oxidizes, or because the sulfite oxidase reaction becomes overwhelmed. I don't think we have ever been sure about the cause of the intolerance. It may be different for different people.
Taking nondenatured whey protein is a way to build glutathione, but it isn't a permanent way to do that. If a person stops taking the whey protein, their glutathione levels will drop back down. This was a puzzle to me for five years, until Jill James et al. published their paper in autism in late 2004. At that point I became aware that a partial block in the methylation cycle, upstream of glutathione synthesis in the sulfur metabolism, was preventing glutathione from staying up. This is true in autism, and also in ME/CFS, and it is what makes ME/CFS a chronic disorder, in my hypothesis. We have since found in both autism and ME/CFS that if the partial methylation cycle block is lifted by appropriate targeted nutritional supplementation (the key supplements being folates and B12 of appropriate forms and dosages), glutathione will come up automatically, without direct efforts to raise it.
So my view on whey protein in ME/CFS is that if there is not an intolerance in a particular person, it is a good source of high quality protein. The truly nondenatured grade is the best, because of the additional attributes it has, beyond simply having a good amino acid makeup for the human body, and beyond simply supplying a fuel that a PWME/PWC can readily burn to make ATP, which is used to contract muscles, power nerve impulses, and drive a wide variety of reactions in the biochemistry of the cells. Although I haven't heard from people who have tried it, I think it could be used in conjunction with the methylation treatments to assist in building glutathione. If there is not an intolerance in a given person, it might help to counter the excitotoxicity that often becomes more severe initially during methylation treatment (anxiety, insomnia, a "wired" feeling, hypersensitivity of the senses).
I hope this helps.
Best regards,
Rich
