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How many times a day do we hear the word protein? Probably more than we would like. Everywhere we turn, an ad for protein pops up or we hear that we're not getting enough of it. There is also a dominant opinion that animal sources of protein are superior. Let's find out some more about it and see if this is indeed the case.
Protein is one of the main building blocks of the body - our skin, muscles, organs, eyes, hair, and nails. It builds the organism and restores the tissue, as well as helps the proper function of the hormonal and immune system. Protein consists of amino acids, and the human body needs 20.
Of those 20, our body can make 11 amino acids that are also called non-essential, which means we don't need to get them through food. For the other nine amino acids, our body cannot produce them, so we must include them in our diet. They are called essential. These are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.
As important as it is, most people don't need a lot of protein to meet their daily needs. Namely, our body recycles protein very efficiently and prefers other nutrients as fuel, especially carbohydrates. In fact, the average American or European consumes about twice as much protein as they actually need.
It’s interesting to mention that at the moment when we need protein the most, which is when we are born and are intensively growing and developing, our mother's milk contains barely 1% protein, while carbohydrates are more prevalent. As the baby grows, the amount of protein decreases.
If such a small amount of protein is enough for a baby to grow into an adult human, that tells us that we don’t need ridiculous amounts of it when we are fully developed individuals.
A common misconception about protein is that the quality of plant protein is inferior because plants don’t contain all the essential amino acids. This is if course not true because each plant contains all essential amino acids in different proportions.
Although some plants have smaller amounts of certain amino acids, this is not a problem because our body breaks down protein into individual amino acids so that the proper protein can be built.
Studies show that in developing muscle and strength, the source of protein doesn’t matter as long as an adequate amount of amino acids is consumed.
In fact, all proteins in the natural world consist of the same 20 amino acids, whether they are found in plants or animals. Plants use the same 20 amino acids as humans to build their own protein because the genetic code is universal. There is nothing special or different about the amino acids in animal products. It is the same tryptophan, leucine, histidine, valine, etc. that we find in plants.
In fact, all essential amino acids originally come from plants. This is where the animals we eat also get their protein.
Think about it, have you ever seen a bull, an elephant or a rhino eat meat? No, of course not. And these are one of the strongest animals on the planet. Animals are actually just middlemen, and when we eat them, we get recycled protein, along with various components that we don't want in our body.
Compared to animal foods, plants have fewer amino acids - leucine and methionine. However, it seems that this is not accidental and that nature knows what it’s doing and is protecting us.
Namely, new research shows that leucine can activate enzyme pathways that lead to aging and cancer, and methionine, which is abundant in animal foods, literally feeds cancer cells.
Plant foods on the other hand contain a lot of glutamic acid, which is a powerful antioxidant and is very useful for the prevention of all chronic diseases. This may explain why people who eat a plant-based diet are healthier and generally live longer.
In 1914, a study was done on rats, which revealed that rats increase their size and growth rate on animal protein, such as eggs, dairy products and meat, and that 10 essential amino acids are essential for a rat's diet in order for them to be healthy.
Thanks to this and other animal studies at that time, animal foods were classified as superior sources of protein, while plant protein was declared inferior. The amino acid composition of animal protein has become the gold standard.
But a study from 1942 showed the obvious, which is that a diet that is ideal for rats is not ideal for humans.
Rats are carnivores that develop very quickly and reach full size in just six months (which is typical for carnivores), while humans, who are biologically herbivores, reach full size at 18 years and develop mentally at 25. We mature slowly and during longer period of time.
Rat breast milk contains 10 times more protein than human milk, which is logical to achieve such accelerated growth. As we have already said, human milk contains a maximum of 1% protein when the baby is born.
Plant protein is sufficient to create essential and non-essential amino acids, as long as the choice of foods is varied and enough calories are consumed to meet energy needs.
With a proper and varied plant-based diet, we not only consume enough protein, but we also consume 70% more than we need.
For example, a peanut butter sandwich contains about the same amount of protein as 85 grams of beef or three large eggs. But marketing has done its job and today it is a widely accepted myth that we need meat to survive, and many people believe in the misconception that we can't get enough quality protein from plants.
Let's see in what way plants differ from animal products.
Plants are rich in fiber, antioxidants, prebiotics, and phytochemicals such as vitamin C, and carotenoids that reduce inflammation and improve blood flow. They don’t contain cholesterol and have an average of 64x more antioxidants than animal foods. Even lettuce has more antioxidants than salmon or eggs.
By eating animal foods, we consume protein that is actually difficult to absorb, because the body has to invest a lot of energy to digest it. For example, meat stays in the stomach for about 7 hours, and in the body for up to 3 days, while plants are completely digested in a few hours.
Meat, eggs, and dairy products also contain saturated fat and dietary cholesterol, which are now known to be one of the main causes of chronic diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.
One study showed that eating just one hamburger increased the level of inflammation in the body by 70% while simultaneously reducing blood flow and making blood vessels stiff.
There is also something that we probably don't think about - and that is that animals accumulate in their bodies various substances they are exposed to during their lives, like heavy metals, microplastics, antibiotics, pesticides like glyphosate, and inflammatory compounds like endotoxin and Neu5Gc.
When we eat animal foods, we ingest these harmful substances in high amounts, which can jeopardize our health in the long run.
A healthy and varied diet that includes all groups of plant foods - vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and mushrooms, provides not only enough protein, but all the nutrients we need as well.
Here are some of the foods that are particularly rich in protein:
| seitan – 100 g = | 24 g of protein |
| tempeh (fermented soybeans) | – 100 g |
| cooked = | 20 g protein |
| beans – 100 g cooked = | 7-10 g of protein |
| lentils – 100 g cooked = | 8-9 g protein |
| chickpeas (including hummus) – 100 g cooked = | about 7 g of protein |
| hemp protein powder - 100 g = | 45 g of protein |
| spirulina - 100 g = | 60 g of protein |
| chlorella - 100 g = | 57 g of protein |
| pea sprouts - 100 g = | 7-10 g of protein |
| tofu | - 100 g of tofu about 8 g of protein |
| edamame (young soybeans) – 100g = | 7-10 g of protein |
| nuts (eg almonds) – ¼ cup = | 7 g of protein |
| nut butter – 2 tablespoons of nut butter = | 7 g of protein |
| oats – 100 g of oats = | 10 g of protein |
| quinoa – 100 g cooked = | 4 g protein |
| spinach – 100 g of raw spinach = | 3 g of protein |
| broccoli – 100 g of raw broccoli = | 2.5 g of protein |
Other plant sources of protein - hemp seeds, peas, brown and wild rice, soy milk, amaranth, spirulina, chia seeds, asparagus, avocados, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, pistachios, Brazil nuts, peanut butter, corn, kale.
When talking about protein and whether they are 'complete or incomplete', it would be better to focus on the nutrition itself as being 'complete', in the sense that it meets our total dietary needs - both micro and macro nutrients (carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, etc.).