When it comes to a plant based diet, the question always arises... But how about protein???
Is there protein in plants?
First and foremost, we must clarify, protein is not a singular substance. It is built from various amino acids. There are 20 different amino acids. From these 20, there are 9 which we call 'essential amino acids'. They are essential as our bodies cannot produce them so we have to get them from external sources, from food.
If all 9 essential amino acids are found in one ingredient, we call it a complex or complete protein source.
If all 9 essential amino acids are found in one ingredient, we call it a complex or complete protein source.
It is common knowledge that animal muscle tissue is a complex protein source, however how much do we know about plant based protein?
All plants have protein in them or to be precise, all have amino-acid building blocks.
But most of them are 'incomplete' (i.e. not all 9 amino acids are present in sufficient amount in one plant*). However, before we jump to the conclusion that they are less valuable (as they are incomplete), we must stress that, it is quite easy to collect the full spectrum of the essential amino-acids, even from the simplest combinations of vegetables and legumes or fruits and cereals! Also there are some plant based foods, which are now known to be complex protein sources (after a conduction of careful and detailed composition analyses over recent years*).
But most of them are 'incomplete' (i.e. not all 9 amino acids are present in sufficient amount in one plant*). However, before we jump to the conclusion that they are less valuable (as they are incomplete), we must stress that, it is quite easy to collect the full spectrum of the essential amino-acids, even from the simplest combinations of vegetables and legumes or fruits and cereals! Also there are some plant based foods, which are now known to be complex protein sources (after a conduction of careful and detailed composition analyses over recent years*).
What is also very important to know is that this so called "combination of amino acids", does not have to occur in the same time, you can eat the different fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, and nuts over the course of the day. Your body will do the job to combine them. They are like building blocks, your body knows what to use to build human protein.
However, as we mentioned above, there are some plants which are complete.
Here is the list of plant based, complex/ complete protein foods:
* Quinoa
* Amaranth
* Buckwheat
* Hemp seeds
* Chia
* Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (algae)
* Spirulina
As an example, the composition analysis of quinoa:
(as you may see, all 9 essential amino acids are present in reasonable amounts)
The second question arises... How much protein (complete) do we need?
An average person needs around 0.6-1g protein per body kg each day and around 1500-2000 kilo calories.
And as we can see, there are plenty of ways to have your protein covered. And its is much easier then you may think.
You can track/ test your intake as well on: https://cronometer.com/
This is an example of me - female, 170 cm, 55 kg, calculating with 0.8 g protein per body kg - as you can see by ONLY consuming below 1000 calories I already reached my daily needs of app. 40g of protein! Note, I consume around 1800 calories a day, this example below wanted to represent, that I can easily reach my daily protein needs.
An average person needs around 0.6-1g protein per body kg each day and around 1500-2000 kilo calories.
And as we can see, there are plenty of ways to have your protein covered. And its is much easier then you may think.
You can track/ test your intake as well on: https://cronometer.com/
This is an example of me - female, 170 cm, 55 kg, calculating with 0.8 g protein per body kg - as you can see by ONLY consuming below 1000 calories I already reached my daily needs of app. 40g of protein! Note, I consume around 1800 calories a day, this example below wanted to represent, that I can easily reach my daily protein needs.
* It is important to understand that all plant foods contain the 9 essential fatty acids (FAs) but most are not referred to as full/complex protein sources as the amounts of available FAs are very small. For example, should you choose to fulfill your daily FA norm by eating only boiled potatoes, you would have to eat 3kg of the goodies to "collect" all FAs. You can check out the nutritional profiles of all foods here: https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/
Please do dive in to these references:
Nutritional Update for Physicians: Plant-Based Diets: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662288/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3905294/
http://nutritionstudies.org/top-10-plant-based-research-and-news-stories-of-2015/
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/02/06/get-your-protein-from-plants-not-meat-if-you-want-to-be-healthier-according-to-these-scientists/
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/protein/
Thank for sharing all this information with us! This will help us to choose the right food combinations for a healthy diet. Plants are an integral source of various minerals and vitamins.
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