I do not know who the guy is on the podcast with Raj Shamani, but he is absolutely wrong. There seems to be a section of "health influencers" who fearmonger the public on "dangers of whey protein or protein supplementation." Ammonia production is not a side effect of whey protein metabolism, but is a normal metabolic product of any protein metabolism. Ammonia is natural, generated as a by-product of protein ingestion through the breakdown of amino acids. Of the amino acids, glutamate is the one that has maximal free ammonia generation. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK54103… In normal healthy persons, excessive ammonia generation is handled by the body and it does not affect brain function. This is done via the "urea cycle" in the liver: teachmephysiology.com/gastrointestin… In patients with liver disease such as acute liver failure or chronic liver failure, the excess ammonia cannot be cleared out by the weak/failing liver or utilized in the muscles (because of muscle loss in liver patients) and affects brain functioning, leading to a condition called hepatic encephalopathy. This does not happen if you are healthy and taking additional protein. In fact, animal meats are more ammonia generating than plant-based or dairy-based protein and in those chronic liver failure patients with recurrent or persistent ammonia related brain dysfunction, the dietary advise is to limit animal meats and include more or switch to dairy+plant-based protein to keep ammonia generation low. Whey protein and scoops of additional whey protein to target protein requirement is perfectly safe and does not affect brain function or make the person slow like what is discussed in this video. Even advanced cirrhosis patients are supplemented with whey based protein formulations to target additional protein requirements and improve quality of life and immune functions Eg: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32807252/ and pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34669886/ I hope we develop a law to deport brain dead misinformation peddling sub-standard "health influencers," like this guy in suit.
@theliverdr The guy in the suit is Ryan Fernando a leading Nutritionist. He trained me nearly 25 years ago when he started his career as a Trainer for Amway Nutrilite series. Amway had just launched their Protein powder and Ryan was hired as a trainer based in Blr.
@theliverdr Do these 'doctors' stop studying or what? In fact, if I remember correctly, lack of proteins in diet leads to muscle catabolism --> less muscle --> less ability to uptake ammonia --> more HE. Hence, even cirrhotics need sufficient protein!
@theliverdr His name is Dr.Ryan Fernando, he also says the same thing though regarding alcohol as well
@theliverdr Doc, he is virat kohli's diet advisor, does this ring a bell ? :)
@theliverdr can too much protein intake cause kidney failure?