Can you heat whey protein?

[YeahBuddyyyyy]

I've googled around and there are so many conflicting articles that I don't know what to believe. Some say heating it will denature it and will make it practically useless while some say it's completely fine. I want to add my protein powder to my oatmeal every morning. Am I good to go or should I just stick to making a separate shake?

[BigBoLuke93]

It's perfectly fine. "Denature" just means to take it out of it's natural state. Every time you cook any meat you are essentially 'denaturing' the protein.. are you worried that your chicken will be useless if you cook that? Same thing applies to protein powder.

Protein in oats is just fine, and quite delicious. Eat up.

[CaliSuperSport]

I've read denatured protein isn't actually any less beneficial to the body than natural protein unless YOUR own body just reacts differently. In fact it can apparently make protein absorption faster.

So I doubt it will hurt much to mix with protein, especially when proteins are subjected to worse stress when cooked like fried eggs. Apparently the process can be reversed by cooling as well and they are denatured anyways by the digestive process.

Based on that I've come to think "denatured protein" has become a sales tool for protein supplements, because I've seen whey vendors mention it when denouncing other brands of protein that is flash pasteurized.

[Botika]

I've googled around and there are so many conflicting articles that I don't know what to believe. Some say heating it will denature it and will make it practically useless while some say it's completely fine. I want to add my protein powder to my oatmeal every morning. Am I good to go or should I just stick to making a separate shake?

You can always add an egg. You just crack it near the end and stir it in quickly breaking the yolk. The heat cooks the egg and makes your oats really fluffy, it doesn't taste eggy.

[Danmacca]

I've googled around and there are so many conflicting articles that I don't know what to believe. Some say heating it will denature it and will make it practically useless while some say it's completely fine. I want to add my protein powder to my oatmeal every morning. Am I good to go or should I just stick to making a separate shake?

You could make the oatmeal then mix the whey in... Just to be safe, and add peanut butter, it's delicious..

But honestly I cook with whey so I don't think it's a problem, though I've never been too concerned about it

[morningstaru]

You could make the oatmeal then mix the whey in... Just to be safe, and add peanut butter, it's delicious..

But honestly I cook with whey so I don't think it's a problem, though I've never been too concerned about it

Came to say pretty much this!

[Bababroey]

Protein denatures into amino acids, which it does anyway in the digestive tract via proteases, so this just makes the uptake easier/faster. Amino acids are pretty much bulletproof when it comes to "destroying" them. You'd have to burn the food into inedibleness to destroy the aminos in a given food.

[Exile95]

This came to mind for me too, so I checked online. Now I almost always put oats and milk (soy milk for me) in a 1:1 ratio in a container, stir well, close and stick in a fridge for a couple of hours (overnight works well). The next morning, just take it out, stir in the whey and eat. Tastes great.

[rxownz]

I've been microwaving my oats + whey for years. The denature is a myth to be honest.

[n0useforaname]

I think it depends on the brand... Awhile back I was mixing it with oatmeal and the ISOflex I had literally turned to sand... it was farking disgusting and made me want to puke. Then I tried Trutein... I found that I couldn't completely cook my oatmeal with it, as it would get a weird texture too... but baking was fine.