Can A Protein Supplement Shake Cause IBS?
Protein is broken down in the stomach by pepsin. If you are drinking a SOY protein shake, the soy depletes your body of minerals, especially iron. It slows your metabolism down and will cause your digestion to slow down. This can have an indirect affect on causing IBS. If you drink whey protein, this will be much easier to digest and generally not be an issue. IBS is due to inflammation of the intestines. Antibiotics kill the intestinal flora. The intestinal flora supplies the large intestines with butyric acid that helps keep it healthy. Butter made from raw cream (not pasteurized or homogenized) contains lots of butyric acid. That medium chain fatty acid is very beneficial to the large intestine. Low fat diets, especially ones that exclude butter do a lot of damage to the body. If the stomach acid does not have a low enough pH (between 0.8 and 3.0) the proteins do not get broken down well in the stomach and this creates a higher pH, but still acidic chyme that passes into the intesti
