It's
meat protein that is the problem. However, whey is a dairy product, and in all likelihood would cause the same problems as a meat protein. Eat some beans.
http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/62/71623.htm
High-Protein Diets Can Hurt Kidneys
Damage Stems From Proteins Found in Meat
By Sid Kirchheimer
March 17, 2003
High-protein diets like that of the popular Atkins diet may accelerate the loss of kidney function in people with early problems. However, these controversial diets do not seem to affect people with normal kidneys, suggests new research.
The problem is, as many as 20 million Americans are at risk for reduced kidney function but don't know it. Therefore, people on high-protein diets may be unknowingly damaging their kidneys.
"There are no symptoms attributable to this early kidney disease, but it's very prevalent," says Eric Knight, MD, MPH, lead researcher of the study and a doctor at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Those at highest risk are people with high blood pressure, diabetes, or are older than age 65, he says.
Even in his study, about one in four of the 1,624 women studied had mildly reduced kidney function that produced no obvious symptoms.
Knight's findings on high-protein diets are published in the March 18 edition of Annals of Internal Medicine. It's the latest chapter in the ongoing Nurses Health Study, which has already documented that frequent meat consumption may increase risk of colon cancer.
The women studied were questioned about their consumption of meat and other foods, and other health risks were also evaluated. They were tracked for 11 years, and researchers found that those with mild kidney problems who ate a high-protein diet --- especially protein from meat -- had a faster loss in function. No such association was noted among women with these kidney problems who got most of their protein from dairy foods. However, high meat consumption didn't seem to exacerbate problems in those with healthy kidneys.
"We saw a significantly measurable association in those consuming about 1.3 grams of animal protein for each kilo of body weight," Knight tells WebMD. "That level is not as high as the protein you get from animal sources in the Atkins diet. So clearly a person who is undertaking a high-protein diet such as Atkins should have a kidney function test and carefully be monitored while following this diet."
