Question:
Hi. I was just curious about what the maximum amount of whey protein you can take is? Why do they give dosage recommendations? Is whey protein dangerous when you exceed the dosage?
Answer:
Elite athletes – and millions of amateurs – take a lot more whey protein than most guidelines recommend. A lot more. None that I know of have suffered any ill consequences. Whey protein in and of itself is not inherently dangerous at all. Dosage recommendations are there more for legal protection for companies than anything else. For instance, you may get someone – an idiot, to be blunt – who takes 50 doses a day for a month then becomes ill or dies – as would probably happen with any type of food, vitamin or supplement – but then this would be blamed on the whey protein company and not the individual because it didn’t have any guidelines on dosage.
Of course, most people aren’t stupid enough to abuse anything in such a way, but you always get some people who do. I’ve read stories of some people consuming 32,000 calories and doing no exercise whatsoever – which is around 3x the amount ultra active Michael Phelps consumes to fuel his gruelling training sessions. Go figure – some people are just insane.
Dosage guidelines are also there because some people are lactose intolerant, and a few doses a day will generally be more acceptable to the gastric system than more and more doses. And this is, after all, a supplement. Most of your protein should come from whole foods, but don’t be afraid of taking in a substantial amount of your daily protein intake from whey protein supplements. That’s what they are there for, after all.
Just don’t take any more than your stomach can comfortably handle.