How to Find a SIBO-Friendly Protein Powder

📌 Overview and Key Takeaways

This is a Dietitian’s guide on how to find a SIBO-friendly protein powder.

Discover how to safely supplement your protein intake with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

Last Updated
Jan 6, 2026

Author and Medical Reviewer

Written by Kayla Kamen, MS, RD

Kayla Kamen is a Registered Dietitian with a MS in Nutrition.

Medically reviewed by Jennifer Fossett, PA-C

Jennifer Fossett is a Physician Assistant with a BA in Nutritional Sciences.

Protein Powder for SIBO

Is Protein Powder Good for SIBO?

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) occurs when there is an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine, particularly of types of bacteria that normally grow in other parts of the gut.

This overgrowth can cause symptoms like bloating, diarrhea, stomach pain, and even can lead to malnutrition and weight loss in severe cases.

Although SIBO remains a poorly understood disease (Gastroenterol Hepatol (N Y), 2007), it is associated with several chronic conditions including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s disease, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

The goals of SIBO treatment are threefold:

1. Correct the underlying cause.
2. Provide nutritional support, if necessary.
3. Treat the overgrowth.

The most common treatment for SIBO is antibiotics, which can help decrease the number of bacteria in the small intestine.

Antibiotics will not address the underlying issue that caused SIBO in the first place, however, which is why antibiotics are often paired with dietary modifications.

The SIBO diet is a temporary elimination diet used to help people determine which foods are problematic and cause symptoms.

It involves eliminating certain carbohydrates, specifically high-FODMAP foods, to starve gut bacteria.

FODMAPs are short-chain carbohydrates that are indigestible or poorly absorbed by certain people.

The SIBO diet has three steps:

• First, you stop eating high FODMAP foods.
• Next, you slowly reintroduce these foods to determine which ones are problematic.
• Finally, once you have identified the foods that cause symptoms, you avoid or limit them.

Although the SIBO diet is characterized by elimination, there are a few key ingredients, and one of them is protein.

Eating lots of protein is important because SIBO can impair your ability to absorb nutrients from food.

Basically, the excess bacteria in your small intestine break down your bile salts, which are used to digest fats and protein.

The result is an impaired ability to digest and absorb these nutrients, which can lead to nutritional deficiencies and impact your overall health.

You should try to get as much of your dietary protein intake as possible from sources like eggs, fish, legumes, meat, nuts, and seeds.

Eating enough protein this way can be challenging for some people, especially those with dietary restrictions, however, which is where protein powder can help.

Adding a protein powder to your diet is an easy way to increase your protein intake and fill in nutritional gaps.

That said, not all protein powders are created equal.

What Is the Best SIBO Protein Powder?

Many protein powders are made with ingredients that can cause painful side effects and long term health problems for someone with SIBO.

Among these ingredients are food additives, dairy-based proteins, and protein concentrates and isolates.

🚫 Avoid Food Additives

Regularly eating emulsifiers, thickeners, sugar substitutes, and other additives can not only upset your stomach, but also alter the composition of your gut microbiome (the collection of microorganisms living in your gut) (North Clin Istanb, 2019).

This can lead to gut dysbiosis, or an imbalance in gut bacteria, which is linked to the development of SIBO (Microorganisms, 2022; Microorganisms, 2023).

In fact, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth can be understood as a type of gut dysbiosis.

SIBO involves an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine specifically, whereas gut dysbiosis refers to an imbalance in bacteria in the digestive tract generally speaking.

There is no indication that the latter causes the former, but the two are certainly related.

Additives that might cause gut dysbiosis should therefore be strictly avoided by people with SIBO.

⚠️ Here is a list of the most common food additives in protein supplements:

• acacia fiber
• acacia gum
• acesulfame potassium
• artificial flavors
• ascorbic acid
• aspartame
• calcium carbonate
• carrageenan
• cellulose gum
• dextrin
• dicalcium phosphate
• dipotassium phosphate
• erythritol
• gellan gum
• guar gum
• gum arabic
• inulin
• locust bean gum
• maltitol
• maltodextrin
• mono- and diglycerides
• ‘natural’ flavors
• rice bran extract
• rice dextrin
• rice hulls
• rosemary extract
• silica
• silicon dioxide
• sodium alginate
• soluble corn fiber
• sorbitol
• soy lecithin
• sucralose
• sunflower lecithin
• tocopherols
• tricalcium phosphate
• xanthan gum
• xylitol
• zinc oxide

Basically, if you could not find an ingredient in nature or make it at home, it should not be in your protein powder.

🚫 Avoid Dairy-Based Proteins

You should also avoid dairy-based proteins like whey and casein, which contain lactose, a sugar most adults cannot fully digest.

Keep in mind that you may be sensitive to dairy-based proteins, even if you are not lactose intolerant.

This is particularly true for casein protein, which forms a gel-like substance in your stomach that slows down digestion.

🚫 Avoid Protein Concentrates and Isolates

The protein source itself (not the type of protein, but the form) might be a factor worth considering too.

Most protein supplements are made from protein concentrates and isolates, which have been mechanically and/or chemically stripped of everything but the protein.

This includes the enzymes, fiber, and other natural digestive aids that help your gut break them down.

You therefore do not digest them in the same way that it does whole foods, which can affect everything from satiety to gut health.

In fact, studies show that regularly eating protein concentrates and isolates can disrupt your gut microbiome and cause the formation of toxic byproducts in your gut (Nutrients, 2018; Mol Nutr Food Res, 2024).

So, pending further research, it is recommended that you stick to SIBO protein powders made from whole food protein sources.

Drink Wholesome Is the Best SIBO-Friendly Protein Powder

Finding a protein powder free from food additives, dairy-based proteins, and protein concentrates and isolates is hard.

In fact, 99% of protein supplements contain one or more of these problematic ingredients, which is why we created Drink Wholesome.

We make the best protein powder for SIBO because we use a short list of simple ingredients.

Our Ingredients

egg whites

coconut

vanilla

monk fruit

NOT Our Ingredients

• acacia gum

• acesulfame potassium

• artificial flavors

• carrageenan

• erythritol

• guar gum

• inulin

• maltodextrin

• 'natural' flavors

• silica

• soy lecithin

• sucralose

• xanthan gum

• xylitol

Note that instead of using protein concentrates or isolates, we use whole food protein sources like egg whites and almonds.

It follows that our customers experience fewer digestive issues with our Protein Powder than with any other type of protein supplement.

Order samples to see for yourself.

Sources

1. Gastroenterology & Hepatology (Gastroenterol Hepatol (N Y)). Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth: A Comprehensive Review. 2007.
2. Northern Clinics of Istanbul (North Clin Istanb). Food additives and microbiota. 2019.
3. Microorganisms (Microorganisms). Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis: Triggers, Consequences, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Options. 2022.
4. Microorganisms (Microorganisms). Association between Gut Dysbiosis and the Occurrence of SIBO, LIBO, SIFO and IMO. 2023.
5. Nutrients (Nutrients). Effect of a Protein Supplement on the Gut Microbiota of Endurance Athletes: A Randomized, Controlled, Double-Blind Pilot Study. 2018.
6. Molecular nutrition & food research (Mol Nutr Food Res). In Vitro Fermentation of Animal and Plant Protein Isolates by the Human Gut Microbiota Under High and Low Carbohydrate Conditions.. 2024.

Editorial Guidelines

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This article was written by a Registered Dietitian and reviewed by a Physician Assistant. We rely on peer-reviewed research and trusted medical sources, and regularly update our content to ensure accuracy and clarity.