"An interesting study in this month's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (see link below) offers some pretty sound reasons why meals supplemented with whey protein -- referred to as the gold standard of protein as it is the most nutritious protein available - can be healthy for you, even if the foods you typically eat aren't.
Researchers compared the effect of whey versus lean ham and lactose on 14 type 2 diabetes patients after they ate high glycemic index (GI) breakfasts and lunches on separate days. Not surprisingly, insulin responses were higher in the diabetic patients after eating breakfast (31 percent) and lunch (57 percent) supplemented with whey. Also, the blood glucose response of patients who ate whey fell by more than 20 percent.
How these patients responded to whey is very encouraging, considering some experts believe reducing the presence of glucose in the blood after a meal is a more expedient approach to treating diabetes than lowering fasting blood glucose. Moreover, the way whey affects the activity of insulin in the body led scientists to conclude these proteins may potentially lessen post-meal blood glucose spikes over the day. "