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Thread: Getting all essential amino acids

  1. #1
    Bowie's Avatar
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    Default Getting all essential amino acids

    So people say that there is no single vegetable that contains all essential amino acids, but that you can get all of them by consuming a wide variety of vegetables.

    Could anyone tell me what vegetables contain which amino acids? Do soybeans actually contain all of them?

    I don't know who to trust these days and am quite wary of what might be said in websites

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Getting all essential amino acids

    I use this website, it gives you every bit of information there is on almost any food in any state(steamed/boiled/cooked/raw)
    http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/...d-pasta/5707/2

    The search is a real hassle so I just use google and type "[food item] nutrition facts" then look for the one that links you to nutritiondata.self.blablabla

    It looks like most foods contain essential amino acids, some just more than others. As long as you eat a varied diet, you wont have to worry about it. It's the people that are eating 1000 calories a day that I'm worried about.

    EDIT: And I didn't notice this before, but if you scroll down to protein, you can click on "more info" and it drops down to show you the amounts of every amino acid, essential and non.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Getting all essential amino acids

    Thanks a lot! That's incredibly helpful

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Getting all essential amino acids

    I don't know if this of any interest to you but this is from an athletic training article:

    "Beans and rice are probably the most popular non-meat protein source, but I emphasize it less because it’s a no-brainer. Cheap, healthy Mexican food is just about everywhere, and I think even the most beginner vegetarian learns quickly about the concept of combining non-meat protein sources to create “complete proteins” that have all essential amino acids. This concept is actually a myth, as all plant protein sources contain all of the essential amino acids, but in varying levels. A food with “incomplete protein” isn’t devoid of an amino acid, it may simply have a lower amount of it. So, it’s not impossible to get complete proteins from single plant food sources, but you can do it more efficiently by combing complementary foods. Grains and legumes (often in the form of beans and rice) is the most common combo. Additionally, they do not, contrary to the same myth, need to be eaten at the same meal. Amino acids are available in the blood for many hours after you eat. As long as the complimentary amino acids appear in the next meal or two that day, the body will have what it needs to make protein."

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    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Getting all essential amino acids

    ...by consuming a wide variety of vegetables.
    Hi,
    there are many reasons to eat varied food. But I feel a little sorry for Frances Moore Lappé, who - 40 years ago - launched the theory that vegans and vegetarians needed to eat certain combinations of food, in the same meal even, so that the plant ingredients with incomplete essential amino acids could combine to form a complete protein. She has tried to kill the myth she created for many years now, but has been quoted so many times that the myth lives it's own life.

    Here's what Wikipedia writes about food combining:

    Protein combining (also protein complementing) is a theory, now largely discredited, that vegetarians, particularly vegans, must eat certain complementary foods like beans and rice together in the same meal, so that plant foods with incomplete essential amino acid content combine to form a complete protein, meeting all amino acid requirements for human growth and maintenance.

    The theory was initially promoted in Frances Moore Lappé's 1971 bestseller Diet for a Small Planet. The American National Research Council and the American Dietetic Association (ADA) soon picked it up, cautioning vegetarians to be sure to combine their proteins.[1] Later, the ADA reversed itself in its 1988 position paper on vegetarianism. Suzanne Havala, the primary author of the paper, recalls the research process:

    There was no basis for [protein combining] that I could see.... I began calling around and talking to people and asking them what the justification was for saying that you had to complement proteins, and there was none. And what I got instead was some interesting insight from people who were knowledgeable and actually felt that there was probably no need to complement proteins. So we went ahead and made that change in the paper. [Note: The paper was approved by peer review and by a delegation vote before becoming official.] And it was a couple of years after that that Vernon Young and Peter Pellet published their paper that became the definitive contemporary guide to protein metabolism in humans. And it also confirmed that complementing proteins at meals was totally unnecessary.[2]

    Other nutrition experts and medical professionals who now agree that this theory is outdated include Dennis Gordon[3] and Jeff Novick[4] (registered dietitians), and John A. McDougall[5], Andrew Weil[6], and Charles Attwood[7] (medical doctors).

    In fact, the original source of the theory, Frances Moore Lappé, changed her position on protein combining. In the 1981 edition of Diet for a Small Planet, she wrote:

    "In 1971 I stressed protein complementarity because I assumed that the only way to get enough protein ... was to create a protein as usable by the body as animal protein. In combating the myth that meat is the only way to get high-quality protein, I reinforced another myth. I gave the impression that in order to get enough protein without meat, considerable care was needed in choosing foods. Actually, it is much easier than I thought.

    "With three important exceptions, there is little danger of protein deficiency in a plant food diet. The exceptions are diets very heavily dependent on [1] fruit or on [2] some tubers, such as sweet potatoes or cassava, or on [3] junk food (refined flours, sugars, and fat). Fortunately, relatively few people in the world try to survive on diets in which these foods are virtually the sole source of calories. In all other diets, if people are getting enough calories, they are virtually certain of getting enough protein."[8]

    Fruit and vegetable sources of protein are more often lower in one or more essential amino acids than animal sources, especially lysine, and to a lesser extent methionine and threonine.[9] Nonetheless, although cereal protein is particularly low in lysine compared to animal protein, even the lysine in cereals is adequate for adult needs. Adults can achieve adequate protein with any one of the legume, cereal, nut, seed, or fruit food groups, even though each of these groups is low (compared to animal protein) in certain essential amino acids.[9] Because of growth, children and infant have a greater requirement for complete protein than adults.[9]

    References

    ^ Maurer, Donna. Vegetarianism: Movement or moment? Temple University Press, 2002, p.37
    ^ Maurer, Donna. Vegetarianism: Movement or moment? Temple University Press, 2002, p.38.
    ^ " Vegetable Proteins Can Stand Alone, Dennis Gordon, M.Ed,R.D., Journal of the American Dietetic Association, (March 1996, Volume 96, Issue 3), pp. 230-231
    ^ Complementary Protein Myth Won't Go Away!, Jeff Novick, M.S., R.D., Healthy Times (May 2003)
    ^ The McDougall Plan, John A. McDougall (1983), pp. 98-100
    ^ Vegetarians: Pondering Protein?, DrWeil.com, Dec. 11, 2002
    ^ "Complete" Proteins?, Charles R. Attwood, M.D., F.A.A.P., VegSource.com (accessed Sep. 4, 2009)
    ^ Diet for a Small Planet (ISBN 0-345-32120-0), 1981, p. 162; emphasis in original
    ^ a b c Young VR, Pellett PL (1994). "Plant proteins in relation to human protein and amino acid nutrition" (PDF). AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRITION 59 (5 Suppl): 1203S-1212S. PMID 8172124.
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

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    Default Re: Getting all essential amino acids

    Soy beans and quinoa are complete proteins. Quinoa is awesome - there's so much you can do with it.

    Other foods only contain a limited range of amino acids, but if you eat a varied range of them, you should be getting some of all of them. Protein requirements are actually not that high, only 50-60 grams per day - most people get more than that, even only eating plants.

    Vegan protein
    http://go-go-vegan.blogspot.com

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    Default Re: Getting all essential amino acids

    Contrary to popular belief protein isn't an issue at all for the vast majority of vegans and there's no reason to eat soya/quinoa just because it's a 'full protein' if you don't like it - really I think you can't go wrong as long as you eat a bunch of legumes.

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    Default Re: Getting all essential amino acids

    What amazes me is that Francis Moore Lappe came up with that theory in 1971 and corrected her stance on it in 1981 (10 years later), but we still get hit with it in 2011 - 30 years after she found out the mistake she had made and tried to correct it. Wow!

    Best regards,
    Andy

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    Default

    I've heard hemp seeds have the lot, along with omega 3, 6 and 9 in the correct ratios.
    Recognize meat for what it really is: the antibiotic- and pesticide-laden corpse of a tortured animal. ~Ingrid Newkirk

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    Default Re: Getting all essential amino acids

    As long as you are eating a varied diet with all the food groups included, there is no reason to be protein deficient. Maintaining caloric intake at an adequate level is also a must. Protein deficiencies can occur if there is not enough calories in your diet. Not to mention "wasting away" and all that stuff.
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    Default Re: Getting all essential amino acids

    50 or 60 grams seems quite high to me. I did some research and only came up with 25-35 as essential. Furthermore, (I'm still new), it's hard to come up with a daily vegan diet that amounts to 50- 60 grams. If you know of one PLEASE post it. I'd very much like to see it. Perhaps the majority of the protein is quinoa?
    Edit: I did some more research and found that calorie count.com is sometimes wrong but that in fact with rice combinations with pulses it is not hard to come up with 50 grams/day. (my bad) I still would like to see a complete day's meal plan from someone that I could use.
    Quote springtulip View Post
    Soy beans and quinoa are complete proteins. Quinoa is awesome - there's so much you can do with it.

    Other foods only contain a limited range of amino acids, but if you eat a varied range of them, you should be getting some of all of them. Protein requirements are actually not that high, only 50-60 grams per day - most people get more than that, even only eating plants.

    Vegan protein
    Last edited by Pthalo; Oct 29th, 2011 at 07:12 PM. Reason: rethink

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    Default Re: Getting all essential amino acids

    Yesterday I ate:

    Porridge with soya milk - 100g/250ml: 19g protein (433 calories)
    Dhal with rice - 150g/100g: 45g protein (900 calories)
    Pasta with sauce (http://tinyurl.com/5w2jc9g) - 150g/390g: 18g protein (610 calories)

    Total: 82g protein (1943 calories)

    Just an example of how easy it is to get protein in a vegan diet, even if it's not 82g of 'full protein' it's easily more than the RDA without even any specific effort put into it - I just cooked what I felt like eating at the time.

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    Default Re: Getting all essential amino acids

    Thanks Maitre. I've found that info on protein content and other info varies WILDLY from source to source. Therefore, I'm not going to worry about it anymore.

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    Default Re: Getting all essential amino acids

    If you want whole proteins (although I'm not convinced of the importance of doing so), Quinoa, Hemp, Spirulina and Avocados are great for that .

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