Protein sources for vegetarians

Protein is an essential part of the dietary needs of humans. The reason is that it fulfils a variety of important functions in the body. It is necessary for growth, maintenance and repair of cells and for the production of enzymes and hormones.

Furthermore, proteins are the main components of muscle tissue and are vital to the internal organs, bones, skin and the transmission of impulses through the nerves.

The body’s need for protein can be met with a wide variety of foods, from animal sources alone, from plant and animal sources or from specific plant-protein combinations. High-quality protein foods such as milk, eggs, meat, poultry and fish are the best sources of protein and will supply all the amino acids a body will need for protein synthesis in a single food. But, fortunately these are not the only sources of dietary protein.

Nuts, legumes, and grains such as wheat, rice and maize, potatoes and leafy vegetables provide lesser quality protein that is an important source of all amino acids. But they do have an important advantage over animal proteins – as plants they do not contain cholesterol at all and when they do have fat, it is in the form of unsaturated oil which is healthier than animal fat. (The exceptions here are coconut and palm oil.)

The good news for vegetarians is that a high-quality or even complete protein without any animal foods can be obtained by pairing two specific incomplete proteins in a meal, such as maize and beans. However, it must be borne in mind that relatively large quantities of plant foods have to be eaten to match the amount of protein a person would get from animal sources. Lacto-ovo vegetarians who eat milk and eggs in addition to plant foods can much easier obtain a well-balanced and complete diet.

It is a proven fact that that if legumes (peas, beans, peanuts) are a daily staple of vegetarians the total protein need can be met efficiently. Of all the beans, soy beans contain the highest percentage of protein among all vegetable foods. One cup of soy beans cooked contains about 20 g of protein which is more than one-third the RDA.

The matter of protein intake is a very delicate situation. But, this is to the benefit of vegetarians to the effect that oversized intake of protein can actually be wasteful since extra protein kilojoules are a costly form of bodily energy and excess dietary protein may in turn help create lager needs for calcium, vitamins B and other nutrients.

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