Whey protein and teens?

[Lovinmyblanket]

15 year old ds getting really into lifting weights at the local gym. He's tall for his age at 6ft and already eats me out of house and home. He wants me to buy his some kind of whey protein, but googling suggests this could be bad for his kidneys?
Just wondering if any of you are knowledgable in this area. I'm happy with him exercising but don't want to harm him.

Following as DS16 has asked the same.

Assuming they have normal kidney function, it's perfectly fine.

Here's a nice article summarising everything

Thank you for the link @Duttercup
I suppose I have no idea whether his kidneys are healthy or not, and I'm not sure how much protein he could end up taking overall. And if he starts at 15, what will be be taking at 25?
But I will look into the numbers in that article a bit more

It's very widely used, I really wouldn't worry. The data on it is very reassuring, to the extent my toddler shares my protein shake from time to time. If he starts drinking it at 15, he will either keep going to the gym - which will be a real net positive in his life! - or he won't. He might add in creatine which is another extremely well researched, extremely safe supplement. It's really not a gateway drug, it's just some protein. It's hard to meet the recommendation for muscle growth through food, I imagine especially if you're a teenager who probably isn't allowed steak and eggs for breakfast (unless you're an extremely nice mum?!)

And you would know if your son had kidney disease, for sure!

Thank you, I'll let him have a smallish tub and see how it goes. He has ADHD and is prone to obsessing over a new hobby - I think the gym is more for body image than fitness (he would never go for a run, for example) so I hope he manages to do it in moderation.
I worry because he is totally in a man's body, but the interior workings of it are still not that of an adult!

I meant to add also - they are basically disgusting and pretty hard to drink. If you're looking at the flavours thinking he'll be able to knock them back like a milkshake, that is not the case. They're really hard going, in the way that most people do it for like a month and then can't face it anymore. So there's every chance, he'll do that, get the urge of his system and never ask for another tub!

Thank you, that's great advice I really appreciate your posts. I thought it might taste good in the way that alcopops taste better than beer, so he might take a lot of it! I'll let him order one today

Really depends which one you get. I enjoy drinking mine and have been having it for not far off a year. But there's nothing dodgy about it, it's protein, like you get in food, but without having to tailor all your meals to just being protein. It's hard to consume enough otherwise if you want to build muscle.

Not wanting to go for a run doesn't mean you're not interested in your fitness. I love strength training cos I like making my body strong (and having muscles is pretty cool) but I still don't like cardio. You don't have to be into cardio to be into fitness. And it can be pretty good for ADHD - lifting gives me a time when my brain is quiet.

Thanks @RayKray Thats really interesting re the quieting effect on the brain. My concern isn't really that he isn't into general fitness, I do worry that he will put too much pressure on himself to look a certain way, in the same way a teenage girl might be aiming to have a thigh gap. I think he looks beautiful and want him to feel the same

For me, lifting has made me have way more body confidence than anything else. I love my muscles but in a positive wow aren't bodies amazing way. So hopefully it will be similar