Protein Whey and Anxiety?

[Kyle Stevens]

Alright, this is WAAAAY out there so bear with me. I have occasional bouts with anxiety which have resulted in some panic attacks over the years. Recently my anxiety has flared up again. Today as I'm talking myself down from a rush of sudden anxiety I started thinking about what I did in the last hour or so that could have triggered me. One thing that came to mind was I took a protein shake about 20 mins before my anxiety got high. Thinking back to the last few days this did correlate 1 or 2 times.

Like I said, I know that this is kind of an "out there" thought, but could my protein be changing something chemically in my brain and making my already present anxiety worse? After hitting the google button I did find a few pages saying that if I am glutamate sensitive then my protein could be contributing to this.

Is there any data or studies to prove or disprove this?...Obviously I'll be looking to change Whey and see what happens. Thanks for your input.

[Robert Santana]

Alright, this is WAAAAY out there so bear with me. I have occasional bouts with anxiety which have resulted in some panic attacks over the years. Recently my anxiety has flared up again. Today as I'm talking myself down from a rush of sudden anxiety I started thinking about what I did in the last hour or so that could have triggered me. One thing that came to mind was I took a protein shake about 20 mins before my anxiety got high. Thinking back to the last few days this did correlate 1 or 2 times.

Like I said, I know that this is kind of an "out there" thought, but could my protein be changing something chemically in my brain and making my already present anxiety worse? After hitting the google button I did find a few pages saying that if I am glutamate sensitive then my protein could be contributing to this.

Is there any data or studies to prove or disprove this?...Obviously I'll be looking to change Whey and see what happens. Thanks for your input.

Interesting question Kyle. I am not aware of any studies that have directly measured this in either animals or humans. Excess monosodium glutamate (MSG) is known to cause headaches in people who are sensitive. Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter and is the precursor to gaba aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is inhibitory. Excess glutamate should be converted to GABA but if you are deficient in folate or Vitamin B6 you will not be able to convert it very well. Glutamate receptors also pull other excitatory substances like aspartame and MSG into the cell, which can cause excessive stimulation, causing an imbalance between GABA and glutamate. If these things are actually happening, your sympathetic nervous system is activated and you cannot activate your parasympathetic response. In short, you are unable to calm down, theoretically. Taurine is inhibitory neurotransmitter and can bind to GABA receptors and help you calm down so thats an option.

Honestly though, all that aside we don't know if that is what is happening to you. If you had symptoms 20 minutes after consumption its difficult to say if that is what caused the flare up depending on your rate of digestion and absorption. Have you been diagnosed with anxiety or are you just having symptoms?

[George Christiansen]

Is meeting your protein targets or some other training related anticipation something that causes you anxiety in general? That might explain the correlation.

[JakeWasHere]

Is your protein shake pure whey? When I first started lifting I was dutifully doing whey during the day and casein at night and I started to have crazy anxiety. I cut the casein (figured I’d eliminate one and see if it helped and then other) and the anxiety cleared right up. I’ve been fine with pure whey but since then if I have a shake with more blended protein sometimes I feel a little weird (may well be placebo). If you google it you find some scientific research on the topic as well as a lot of gluten free craziness so ymmv, but I have experienced something similar.

[Alex Ptacek]

Dealing with anxiety requires a lot of self-reflection. It certainly could be the whey, but it could also be your brain grasping at straws and connecting dots that aren't there to make yourself feel better. I've had this experience and I dealt with anxiety for most of my high school life. I'm 20 now and rarely experience attacks anymore, although I do have a certain base level anxiety (mostly when I'm going for PRs lol). I recommend that you see a mental health professional for help, because dealing with this stuff is the worst and it can't hurt to get some help if you're not already.

[Kyle Stevens]

I don't really think the Protein had much of an effect in hindsight. I've had bouts with anxiety for about 15 years, it comes and goes. As I've gotten older I've gotten better at recognizing when my anxiety is getting really bad and I can usually bring myself back down, sometimes in times of lots of stress it gets to me. The last few weeks have been that way, planning a wedding, possible move, car broke down, job stuff, overtrained...ect. On top of all of these I didn't sleep well so it was all compounded. Protein Whey may have had a slight effect, but I think it's much more logical to look at all the things going on that I just needed to sort out and deal with.

I was just curious if there was anything to back up what I read regarding Whey and Anxiety. Seems like there could be, but in my case it's minor if at all.