High Content Protein Foods

What is Protein? Types of Protein

Protein is one of the essential food ingredients. Proteins are made up of amino acids. Amino acids (22 amino acids in all) are essential for building, maintaining and repairing muscles and are said to be the building blocks of our body.

How much protein need? | Proteins in vegetarian food | Protein Foods List | Protein in Milk, Yogurt, Cheese

Types of Protein Food

There are two types of proteins. Some foods like e.g. dairy products, meat, fish and eggs contain sufficient amounts of all the essential amino acids, are known as first class proteins. Second class proteins contain only some of the essential amino acids. Vegetable proteins belong to second class.

Our body cannot make 9 of the 22 common amino acids, so they must be obtained via food. All these nine amino acids are essential for our body to make protein.

We can get these amino acids from our diet. Note that when we talk about the protein content of a food, we mean the amino acids that make protein in our body.

Function of protein in our body

Protein is essential for us for various functions:

1. Growth of body tissue
2. Repair of body tissue
3. Red blood cells
4. Proper functioning of antibodies that resist infection
5. Regulation of enzymes and hormones

How Much Protein You Need?

How much protein do we need daily?

According to the RDA recommendations, our daily protein requirement is of 0.8 to 1.0 gram of protein for every kilogram of our body weight (or about 0.36 to 0.45 gram of protein per pound that you weigh) daily. Roughly, the protein requirement is about 10-15% of calories coming from protein daily.

The protein requirements for sport athletes like runners, cyclists and triathletes are from 25 to 50% more (0.5 to 0.72 gram of protein per pound of body weight) than for non active individuals.

Example:
If your body weight = 55 kg and
your calorie requirement = 2200 calories per day, then
your protein requirement = 55 kg x 1 gram/kg = 55 gram.
Since 1 gram of protein provides 4 calories,
55 gram of protein x 4 calories/gram of protein
= 220 calories from protein per day. or
(220/2200) x 100 = 10% of calories from protein.

Protein Deficiency

Loss of body protein can occur because of stress, surgery, hemorrhage, wounds or prolonged illness and also heavy exercise. Protein deficiency may affect growth and tissue development, especially the hair, nail, skin and muscle tone.

Protein Foods for Vegetarians

It is generally said that a vegetarian or vegan diet is low in protein. See the picture on left for a list of vegetarian protein foods. The fact is that pulses (peas, beans and lentils), nuts, seeds and grains are maximum vegetarian protein foods.
The vegetarians can meet their requirement of protein easily if they eat a variety of foods with protein sources in amounts providing them enough calories to maintain their weight. Almost all vegetables, beans, grains, rice, tofu,nuts and seeds are protein rich, so these are the best protein sources which are quickly absorbed by the body. Note that protein in pulses is 27% of calories, in nuts and seeds 13% and in grains 12%. On the other hand, food like fruits, sugars, fats and alcohol are low in protein.

Protein Rich Foods

The list of protein foods includes meat, poultry and fish, eggs, dairy products, seeds and nuts, beans and lentils, grains like wheat, rice, barley and corn, and soy products. These foods are generally recommended for athletes and body builders for muscle gain and growth in their weight gain diet.

Eggs, milk, spinach, soybean, quinoa, meat, fish, whole grains, rice, beans, legumes, corn, oats, peas and peanut butter are good protein sources.

Note that soybean foods contain higher amount of proten than other beans and lentils.

Other High Protein Vegetarian Food

Source: USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 15
www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR15/sr15.html

From the above table you can chose high protein food. Notice that beans, soybean, wheat flour and oat bran are some of the best proten foods. Many of the high protein meals, snacks, shakes, bars, powders, drinks, etc. contain these foods.

References

1. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 25
   www.ars.usda.gov/ SP2UserFiles/Place/ 12354500/Data/ SR25/ nutrlist/sr25a203.pdf
2. USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 15
   www.nal.usda.gov/ fnic/foodcomp/ Data/SR15/sr15.html
3. Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs): Estimated Average Requirements. Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine.
   www.iom.edu/ Activities/Nutrition/ SummaryDRIs/