Whey Protein For Kids

In this article you will discover whether or not whey protein is suitable for kids, and if so, what types of whey protein would be recommended for them, including any possible health benefits.

First of all, let’s establish something: People need the essential amino acids certain proteins provide to survive. Complete proteins contain all essential amino acids, and whey protein is a complete protein.

It’s quite easy in this modern world to forget that we’re eating not to satisfy our appetite – but for our very survival. When we regain focus on this fact, it’s quite astonishing that people live so long and have the quality of lives and health they do have considering the absolute junk most people base their survival on.

That’s not to say people can eat what they want without ramifications, what we’re seeing in recent decades in particular is obesity and diabetes type 2 levels soaring. Something clearly changed over the last 50 years, and the biggest factor is overreliance on carbohydrates.

Most people have too many carbohydrates (particularly sugars) in their diet, and not enough quality protein and healthy fats.

Therefore, people’s health could benefit much more by consuming far less carbohydrates and more complete proteins and healthy fats. As more people cotton on to this reality, we’ll hopefully see the pendulum swing back towards a return to a leaner, healthier populace with far lower levels of diabetes type 2 and all associated health problems.

If quality protein is essential to adults to maintain health, it’s doubly important for those still growing and forming. How well a child’s body develops – inside and out – will determine in large part their health status for the rest of their lives, and make no mistake about it, the biggest factor that determines their health during their formative years is diet.

Now we’ve covered a little about protein let’s take a look specifically at whey…

Whey protein is a byproduct of cheese making, so it’s a dairy protein. Provided your child has no allergies to dairy (including lactose intolerance), and has regular kidney function, there’s absolutely no reason why they shouldn’t be able to consume whey protein to bolster their diet. Have your doctor verify this, if necessary.

In fact, whey protein has some of the same proteins as human breast milk (alpha-lactalbumin) so if your child was breast fed, they’ve already had some of what whey has had to offer!

Whey protein not only helps muscles grow – particularly when coupled with exercise, which most children get by playing or doing sports – but it also raises glutathione (GSH) which is critical to immune system function. Kids are notorious for getting sick, and some childhood illnesses can, tragically, cause lifelong damage to health, so keeping the immune system fighting fit during childhood not only staves off suffering at the time, but can set the state of health for the rest of your child’s life.

Now, some people may talk about whey protein supplementation for kids being either pointless or potentially dangerous. I’ll address both issues using common sense.

Firstly, as I’ve said, we live in a world which is dominated by carbohydrates, and their effect on blood sugar levels, and insulin levels, are what cause obesity and diabetes type 2 which are rife. If people only had more protein and healthy fats in their diets, and relied less on carbohydrates, they’d enjoy much better health.

As for whey protein being dangerous for kids, as long as your child has no allergies to dairy and has working kidneys and is relatively active, there’s no reason why it should be dangerous at all. It’s simply a top quality protein, and anyone can surely see how that’d be far better and more beneficial for a child than the junk that, unfortunately, makes up way too much of most children’s diets. It’s a no brainer, but as a parent, it’s ultimately up to you to make the call.

Choosing a whey protein for kids…

Whey protein can be complicated, and there are several basic types (concentration, isolate and hydrolyzed); several different forms (powder, bars, ready-to-drink) and certainly thousands of different blends and brands, so which should you buy for your kids?

The answer: A whey which has been highly filtered to give a lot of protein per gram serving, but not filtered to an extent (or in a way) which has removed natural beneficial components for the sake of increased purity.

I’d stick with high purity whey protein concentrates, in this regard, with isolates the second and final option for your kid. Blends of both are common and perfectly acceptable.

Some brands of whey protein are kept as natural as possible. One shining example of the more natural approach is Jay Robb whey protein, which is very natural from the ground up, from grass-fed cows that are farm-raised and haven’t been pumped full of artificial bovine steroids, and the product doesn’t contain any artificial ingredients (not colors, flavors nor sweeteners) and it contains no fat, cholesterol or sugars…

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Finally, there are other ingredients in various whey proteins which you may not want your child to have, the following spring to mind: Sugars to refined carbohydrates such as fructose, glucose and maltodextrin and artificial sweeteners like aspartame.

I would solidly caution against soy blends for children – soy can be a part of some whey protein blends – for its possible connection to raising estrogen levels (the female hormone).

It’s quite difficult to make any specific product recommendation without knowing what you feel is most important or ok or not ok for your child to consume, as this is a decision for parents only so this is as far as I can take you, but I hope you’ve found this article quite useful and it’s given you plenty to think about and get you and your kid started with whey protein supplementation.