THE MYTH OF COMPLETE PROTEIN!

Recently I came across many of the videos , podcast & blogs about Vegan or plant based food and according to them the “plant foods don’t contain all the essential amino acids that humans need to be healthy we must either eat animal protein or combine certain plant foods with others in order to ensure that we get complete proteins.” Surprisingly, the brands who sell plant based protein powders believe and say that to get complete plant protein we have blended different pulses , legumes and cereals and so on.

The widely held belief that plant-based proteins are “incomplete” or “missing” amino acids is a common misconception.

As a food scientist and working in research and development for over 15 years it’s high time to debunk the myth of “incomplete plant proteins”. I emerged from my research with a call to action. We need to change the way we look at and talk about the quality of plant-based proteins.

Calling plant-based proteins incomplete is like calling milk an incomplete source of calcium because it takes more than one glass to meet your needs.

If myths like this abound not only in the general population but also in the medical community, how can anyone ever learn how to eat healthfully? It is important to correct this misinformation, because many people are afraid to follow healthful, plant-based, and/or total vegetarian (vegan) diets because they worry about “incomplete proteins” from plant sources.

How did this “incomplete protein” myth become so widespread?

The “incomplete protein” myth was inadvertently promoted and popularized in the 1971 book, Diet for a Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lappé. In it, the author stated that plant foods are deficient in some of the essential amino acids, so in order to be a healthy vegetarian, you need to eat a combination of certain plant foods at the same time in order to get all of the essential amino acids in the right amounts. It was called the theory of “protein complementing.”

Lappé certainly meant no harm, and her mistake was somewhat understandable. She was not a nutritionist, physiologist, or medical doctor; she was a sociologist trying to end world hunger. She realized that converting vegetable protein into animal protein involved a lot of waste, and she calculated that if people ate just the plant protein, many more could be fed. In the tenth anniversary edition of her book (1981), she retracted her statement and basically said that in trying to end one myth—the inevitability of world hunger—she had created a second one, the myth of the need for “protein complementing.”

In this and later editions, she corrects her earlier mistake and clearly states that all plant foods typically consumed as sources of protein contain all the essential amino acids, and that humans are virtually certain of getting enough protein from plant sources if they consume sufficient calories.

Now understand how plant proteins are “complete proteins “ and don't require a combination of Foods through science lenses.

It’s clear that a few crucial truths have been overlooked based on two basic tenets of biology: plants use the same 20 amino acids as humans to build their proteins (the genetic code is universal), and all animals ultimately get their protein from plants (or plant-like phytoplankton) either directly or indirectly through the food chain.??Proteins, in short, are biochemical molecules that contain chains of amino acids. They can help repair and create tissue (including muscle), are used to make hormones and enzymes, and are building blocks for everything from cartilage and bones to hair and nails. Because our bodies use protein in so many ways, getting enough through our diets is essential for overall health. But not all proteins contain the same amino acid structure, which is why we’ve heard about “complete” and “incomplete” proteins.

Proteins are composed of 20 amino acids, and each is defined by its unique sequence of these acids. Eleven are produced by the human body, and are alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine, and tyrosine.??For good health, we must get the other nine essential amino acids from the foods we eat. These include leucine, histidine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, lysine, methionine, tryptophan, threonine and valine. When a food contains all nine of these amino acids, it’s considered a “complete” protein.??The idea that those following a plant-based diet need to meticulously plan each meal to combine amino acids is a myth, and has been dispelled by the Food scientist and nutrition community years ago. While some plants are admittedly low in certain amino acids, there is no need to eat complementary proteins together at every meal. The human body is extremely intelligent, and maintains pools of free amino acids by complementing the food we eat. It then effectively recycles protein by putting back around grams of proteins into our digestive tract every day to be broken down and reassembled. This means that our body can easily mix and match amino acids to whatever proportions we need. The only reason animal products have “complete” amino acid profiles is because the animal had already done this themselves.

Plant Proteins Have a Limiting Amino Acid

Yes, some plant proteins contain a lower amount of a particular amino acid (i.e. lysine is low in grains, making lysine the limiting amino acid). But plant proteins are not?incomplete. In fact, the only incomplete protein is gelatin, which is missing the amino acid tryptophan.?

Getting ‘complete’ proteins from plants is easier than you think

Call to action: Choose your words carefully.

I’m not the first scientist to raise a red flag regarding the misrepresentation of plant-based proteins (see, for instance,?this 1992 exchange?between physician-scientist Dr. John McDougall and the American Heart Association), and I won’t be the last.

Deeply rooted beliefs are hard to displace. Let’s work together to tighten up our language, so that this myth will go the way of the dodo bird!

1. Stop saying that plants are “missing” amino acids. This is completely false. The word “missing” implies zero or very low, whereas all plants use all 20 amino acids — in at least moderate amounts.

2. Consider using the word “limiting” to clarify which amino acid is the weakest link.

3. Be careful and clear when using the word “complete” or “incomplete” to describe a protein.?We should be thinking about complete diets which will provide proteins, dietary fibers, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals to meet our daily needs.