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Protein quality

From Wikipedia and other sources

Protein quality is the digestibility and quantity of essential amino acids for providing the proteins in correct ratios for human consumption. There are various methods that rank the quality of different types of protein, some of which are outdated and no longer in use, or not considered as useful as they once were thought to be.

The current protein ranking standard in use is the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS), which was recommended by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and became the industry standard in 1993, and FAO has recently recommended the newer Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score (DIAAS) to supersede PDCAAS, due to the limitations of PDCAAS. While PDCAAS truncates all protein types that exceed the essential amino acid (EAA) requirements to 1.0, DIAAS allows a higher than 1.0 ranking, and as such, while for example both soy protein isolate and whey isolate are ranked 1.0 according to PDCAAS, in the DIAAS system, whey has a higher score than soy.

PDCAAS versus DIAAS

The main limitations of PDCAAS is that it doesn’t take into account anti-nutrient factors like phytic acid and trypsin inhibitors, which limit the absorption of protein among other nutrients. For this reason, DIAAS is promoted as the superior method and preferable over the PDCAAS. Other older methods like BV, PER, NPU and nitrogen balance may not reveal much about the amino acid profile and digestibility of the protein source in question, but can still be considered useful in that they determine other aspects of protein quality not taken into account by PDCAAS and DIAAS.

Protein ranking

Below follows a table that compares various proteins based on their rankings. Some of these results may differ and vary significantly depending on if it is soybeans or soy protein isolate, and so on. For example, while soybeans have a PDCAAS score of 0.91, many soy protein isolates (though not all) typically get a PDCAAS score of 1.0, and as such, is a complete protein. Likewise, the amino acid profile may differ from crop to crop depending on the soil, and between different breeds of soy. Generally speaking, however, soybeans rarely outperform whey protein isolate in PDCAAS rankings.

Protein ranking methods and standards
Protein type	PER	NPU	BV	Protein Digestibility (PD)	Protein absorption rate	Amino Acid Score (AAS)	PDCAAS	DIAAS	Limiting amino acid	Complete protein?
Whey	3.2	92%	104	N/A	8-10 g/h	N/A	1.0	1.09[1]	None	Yes
Casein	2.5	85-92%	77[2]	95.1-97.6%	6.1 g/h	1.19	1.0		None	Yes
Egg	3.9	94%	100	97%[3]	1.3-2.8 g/h[4]	N/A	1.0		None	Yes
Beef	2.9[5]	73%	80	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.92	N/A	Tryptophan	No
Soy	2.2	61%	74	86%	3.9 g/h	N/A	0.91	0.898-0.906	Meth+Cyst	Yes
Rice	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A		0.50		Lysine	No
Pea	N/A	N/A	N/A		2.4-3.4 g/h		0.70		Meth+Cyst	No
Hemp	N/A	N/A	87[6]	94.9%	N/A	0.64	0.61		Lysine	No
Mycoprotein	N/A	N/A	N/A	86%	N/A	N/A	0.996[7]		Meth+Cyst	No
Spirulina	1.8-2.6[8]	53-92%	68[9]	83-90%	N/A		N/A		None	Yes
Chlorella	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A		N/A		Meth+Cyst	No

Amino Acid profile

Below follows a table that compares the complete amino acid profiles of various proteins. The amino acid score is based on the prevalence of the essential amino acids and depends on if they reach sufficient quantity. PDCAAS scores do not take into account the quantity of the non-essential amino acids. The proteins deficient in an essential amino acid, are technically not complete proteins, but may still be considered as such if it is a slight deficiency in only one limiting amino acid (many vegan proteins are deficient in several EAAs).

Amino acid profiles and requirements
Essential Amino Acids	Required per 100 g of protein[10][11]	Human breast milk[12]	Hemp seeds (shelled)[13]	Hemp (hydrolyzed)	Soybeans (Edamame)[14]	Spirulina[15]	Chlorella[16]	Whey[17]	Casein[18]	Egg white[19]
Histidine	1.8 g	2.233 g	3.071 g	2.9 g	2.687 g	1.888 g	3.3 g	1.974 g	3.2 g	2.660 g
Isoleucine**	2.5 g	5.437 g	4.075 g	4.1 g	4.402 g	5.584 g	3.5 g	5.001 g	5.4 g	6.064 g
Leucine**	5.5 g	9.224 g	6.855 g	6.9 g	7.151 g	8.608 g	6.1 g	9.475 g	9.5 g	9.321 g
Lysine	5.1 g	6.602 g	4.044 g	4.2 g	5.985 g	5.264 g	10.2 g	8.554 g	8.5 g	7.394 g
Meth + Cyst	2.5 g	3.884 g	5.087 g	4.1 g	2.123 g	3.151 g	1.6 g	3.684 g	3.5 g	6.293 g
Phen + Tyr	4.7 g	9.612 g	8.588 g	8.2 g	8.108 g	9.328 g	5.6 g	5.790 g	11.1 g	10.486 g
Threonine	2.7 g	4.466 g	4.021 g	3.3 g	3.985 g	5.168 g	2.9 g	5.001 g	4.2 g	4.119 g
Tryptophan	0.7 g	1.651 g	1.169 g	0.8 g	1.212 g	1.616 g	2.1 g	2.106 g	1.4 g	1.147 g
Valine**	3.2 g	6.117 g	5.631 g	5.3 g	4.448 g	6.111 g	5.5 g	5.001 g	6.3 g	7.422 g
Total EAAs	28.7 g	49.226 g	42.541 g	39.8	40.101 g	46.718 g	40.8 g	46.586 g	53.1 g	54.906 g
Non-Essential Amino Acids	Required?	Human breast milk	Hemp seeds (shelled)	Hemp (hydrolyzed)	Soybeans (Edamame)	Spirulina	Chlorella	Whey	Casein	Egg white
Alanine	Varies	3.495 g	4.842 g	5.2 g	4.494 g	7.856 g	7.7 g	4.343 g	N/A	6.458 g
Arginine*	Varies	4.175 g	14.419 g	12 g	8.046 g	7.216 g	15.8 g	2.764 g	3.7 g	5.945 g
Asparagine*	Varies	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Aspartic acid	Varies	7.961 g	11.605 g	10.9 g	11.645 g	10.080 g	6.4 g	9.738 g	N/A	11.192 g
Cysteine*	Varies	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Glutamic acid	Varies	16.311 g	19.866 g	17.2 g	18.788 g	14.592 g	7.8 g	17.898 g	N/A	14.220 g
Glutamine*	Varies	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Glycine*	Varies	2.524 g	5.105 g	4.9 g	4.162 g	5.392 g	6.2 g	1.842 g	N/A	3.789 g
Proline*	Varies	7.961 g	5.061 g	4.7 g	4.687 g	4.145	7.2 g	5.922 g	N/A	3.991 g
Selenocysteine	Varies	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Serine*	Varies	4.175 g	5.428 g	5.3 g	5.568 g	5.217	3.3 g	4.606 g	N/A	7.321 g
Tyrosine*	Varies	5.146 g	4.002 g	3.5 g	3.583 g	4.496 g	2.8 g	2.500 g	N/A	4.193 g
Total non-EAAs		51.208 g	70.328 g	63.7 g	60.973 g	58.994 g	57.2 g	49.613 g	N/A	57.109 g
22nd Amino Acid	Required?	Human breast milk	Hemp seeds (shelled)	Hemp (hydrolyzed)	Soybeans (Edamame)	Spirulina	Chlorella	Whey	Casein	Egg white
Pyrrolysine	Not used by humans	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

*Semi-essential, under certain conditions
**Branched-chain amino acid (BCAA)

List of foods by protein content

Below is a list of protein content in foods, organised by food group and given in measurements of grams of protein per 100 grams of food portion. Most natural foods are composed largely of water. Reduction of water content has the greatest effect of increasing protein. It is to be noted that not all protein is equally digestible. Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) is a method of evaluating the protein quality based on the amino acid requirements of humans.

Egg and dairy

Cheese

Protein content range: 7.0 to 40.8

• high scores: parmesan 34.99 to 40.79; gruyère 29.8; Edam 25; traditional cheddar 24.9 to 27.2
• average scores: Tempeh 19; camembert 19.8; processed cheddar 16.42 to 24.6
• low scores: feta 14.7; ricotta 11.26 to 11.39

Whole chicken egg (organic)

10.62 to 13.63 (cooked)

Milk and milk substitutes

• Cow milk (fluid, raw or pasteurized) – 3.2 to 3.3
• Soy milk 5.1 to 7.5
• Goat milk 4.9 to 9.9
• Almond milk 1

Meat and mock meat

Common red meats

• Beef, cooked – 16.9 to 40.6
  • high scores: braised eye-of-round steak 40.62; broiled t-bone steak (porterhouse) 32.11
  • average scores: baked lean (ground beef) 24.47
  • low scores: corned beef: 16.91
• Lamb, cooked – 20.91 to 50.9

Meat oddities

• Bearded seal game meat, dried: 82.6
• Moose game meat, dried: 79.5
• Beaver game meat, broiled: 23.0

White meat

• Fish
• Mock meat (cooked vegetarian preparations): 18.53 to 23.64

Vegetables, grain, and pulses

Vegetables

• Nori seaweed, dried sheets: 5.81
• ready-to-eat green vegetables: 0.33 to 3.11
• ready-to-eat starchy tubers: 0.87 to 6.17
• boiled Black Beans: 9
• boiled chia seeds: 16
  • high scores: home-prepared potato pancakes 6.17; French fries 3.18-4.03
  • average scores: baked potato 2.5; boiled yam 1.49
  • low scores: boiled sweet potato 0.87.

Legumes

• dry roasted soybeans: 13
• boiled lentils: 9
• boiled Green Peas: 5
• boiled Black eyed beans: 8
• boiled chickpeas: 9
• peanuts (raw, roasted, butter): 23.68 to 28.04

Baked products

• Wholewheat pancakes:
• Bread: 6.7 to 11.4
• Crackers: 7.43
• pulses

Other food elements

Natural protein concentrates (often used in bodybuilding or as sports dietary supplements):

• Soy protein isolate (prepared with sodium or potassium): 80.66
• Whey protein concentrate: 79.5
• Egg white, dried: 7.0
• Spirulina alga, dried: 57.45 (more often quoted as 55 to 77)
• Baker’s yeast: 38.33
• Hemp husks 30

 

 

Food Values of Pulses, Dried Peas and Beans (uncooked) per 100 gm
Name	Proteins (gm)	Fat gm	Carbohydrate (gm)	Calories (kcal)	Thiamine (mg)	Riboflavin (mg)	Niacin (mg)	Calcium (mg)	Iron mg	Mg mg	Ph mg	Na mg	K mg	Fiber gm
Bengal gram, whole (chana hurbara)	17.1	5.3	60.9	360	0.30	0.15	2.9	202	4.6	169	312	37	808	3.9
Bengal gram, dal (chana ki dal)	20.8	5.6	59.8	372	0.48	0.18	2.4	56	5.3	130	331	73	720	1.2
Black gram (urd dal)	24	1.4	59.6	347	0.42	0.20	2	154	3.8	130	385	40	800	0.9
Field bean (val dal)	24.9	0.8	60.1	347	0.52	0.16	1.8	60	2.7	–	433	–	–	1.4
Green gram (mung)	24.5	1.2	59.9	348	0.47	0.21	2.4	75	3.9	122	405	27	1150	0.8
Khesari, dal	28.2	0.6	56.6	345	0.39	0.17	2.9	90	6.3	92	317	38	644	2.3
Lentil (masur dal)	25.1	0.7	59	343	0.45	0.2	2.6	69	7.58	74	293	40	629	0.7
Peas, dry	19.7	1.1	56.5	315	0.47	0.19	3.4	75	7.05	100	298	20	725	4.5
Red gram (tur dal)	22.3	1.7	57.6	335	0.45	0.19	2.9	73	2.7	90	304	29	1104	1.5
Soya bean	43.2	19.5	20.9	432	0.73	0.39	3.2	240	10.4	238	690	–	–	3.7

Soybeans also known as soya beans or soy have the highest protein content. Soya bean has roughly 37 grams of protein per 100 grams. Soya can be consumed as tofu (which is like paneer), soya nuggets, roasted soya, soya milk etc.
The other pulses that have high protein content are:
1. Masoor dal – Approximately 27 grams/100 grams
2. Channa dal – Approximately 26 grams/100 grams
3. Peanuts – Approximately 25 grams/100 grams
4. Urad dal – Approximately 24 grams/100grams
5. Moong Dal – Approximately 24 grams/100 grams
6. Lobia – Approximately 24 grams/100grams
7. Rajma – Approximately 24 grams/ 100 grams
8. Moth – Approximately 24 grams/100 grams
9. Tur Dal – Approximately 22 grams/100 grams
10. Kala Chana – Approximately 13 grams/100 grams
11. Kabuli chana – Approximately 13 grams/100 grams
12. Green Peas – Approximately 6 grams/100 grams

However, these are just protein contents and if we look at bio-availability of these vegetarian proteins as compared to other sources like Whey & Casein, it becomes much lower.

 

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