Specific Whey Protein Benefits Women with PCOS Dr Michael Colgan 9 Sept 2013 Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is the most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age, affecting about 10% of these women in North America. It is a disorder of androgen excess.(1-3) Major symptoms are irregular menstruation or amenorrhea, anovulation, acne, overweight, insulin resistance, high cholesterol, and incipient Type 2 diabetes. Patients may or may not show cysts. Many also have great difficulty conceiving, and considerable complications during pregnancy.(1-3) Our clinic has treated a number of women with PCOS, using clomiphene citrate, metformin, and N-acetyl cysteine, in various combinations and cycles in accord with their ovulatory cycle.(4) One difficult problem, however, was the inability of many patients to maintain weight loss. To overcome the weight loss problem and its associated insulin resistance, we have recently used a specific whey protein concentrate drink to replace some carbohydrates in the diet. We chose this particular drink for two reasons. First, it is undenatured whey protein which contains a large amount of cysteine and glutamyl-cysteines in dipeptide and tripeptide form. This amino acid profile provides a base shown to increase blood glutathione levels in controlled trials by a larger amount than the N-acetyl cysteine commonly used in treatment of PCOS. (5,6) Second, the amino acid profile is shown to yield high levels of bioactive peptides in the gut which stimulate the release of gut hormones, including cholecystokinin, peptide YY, and the incretins, gastric inhibitory peptide and glucagon-like peptide 1. These factors potentiate insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells and are linked in controlled studies to regulation of food intake.(6) Using the whey protein concentrate drink daily in combination with N-acetyl cysteine and low-dose metformin, in case studies of women with PCOS, we have found improvements in lipid profiles, improvement in hormone levels, improvements in ovulation, reductions of blood glucose (measured by HbA1c) and successful maintenance of weight loss. These case findings may be of interest to clinicians treating PCOS. 1. Boomsma CM, et al. Pregnancy complications in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Semin. Reprod. Med, 26,2008;(1):72–84. 2. Goldenberg N, Glueck C. Medical therapy in women with polycystic ovary syndrome before and during pregnancy and lactation. Minerva Ginecol. 2008;60:(1):63–75. 3. Azziz R, et al. The Prevalence and Features of the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in an Unselected Population. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2004;89(6):2745–9. 4. Colgan M, Colgan LA. The Perimenopause Solution. Vancouver: Science Books, 2009. 5. Saha L, et al. N-acetyl cysteine in clomiphene citrate resistant polycystic ovary syndrome: A review of reported outcomes J Pharmacol Pharmacother. 2013 Jul-Sep; 4(3): 187–191. doi: 10.4103/0976-500X.114597 PMCID: PMC3746301. 6. Jakubowicz D, Froy O. Biochemical and metabolic mechanisms by which dietary whey protein may combat obesity and Type 2 diabetes. J Nutr Biochem. 2013 Jan;24(1):1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2012.07.008. Epub 2012 Sep 17.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 19:45:06 +0000
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