How would the use of plant proteing in place of meat protein affect?

Question

affect the protein quality of the diet?

Answer 1

Sorry, I don't really understand your question. Or at least, I don't understand your wording of it!

I think you are asking about protein in a vegetarian / vegan diet and if so, this is an excellent website:

http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.htm

Have a read, it will answer all your questions.

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Answer 2

The protein quality in plants is far superior to meat protein.  Animal protein is acidic - it attacks your bones making them dissolve to neutralize the acid.  This is why meat eaters have to eat so much calcium - to counteract this.  But it doesn't work that well if you're drinking milk for your calcium - since it's full of animal protein.....a terrible cycle.  Which explains why the USA has one of the highest rates of osteroporsis in the world.....

Answer 3

I really hope you're not a medical or nursing student looking for easy answers on your homework. If so, we'll all be screwed when you start taking us as patients!

Technically speaking, meat products are generally denser in protein than plant products, and are more likely to contain "complete proteins," or, proteins with all of the "essential amino acids" present in them. However, most sources claim that of the "essential amino acids" required for good nutrition, all of them can be found from plant sources, if care is taken to design a diet that includes them all. These essentials include:

* Histidine

* Isoleucine

* Lysine

* Leucine

* Methionine

* Phenylalanine

* Threonine

* Tryptophan

* Valine

* Arginine (in children)

Most meats contain all of these, and many plants often lack a few of them. Theoretically, replacing meat protein with plant protein could have little effect on the quality of your diet, or it could have a vast effect, depending on how careful you are to get all these essential amino acids in the right quantities.

You'd also have to make sure that in substituting plant proteins, you are receiving the correct vitamins and minerals in the plant products you're substituting. Having balanced protein sources won't help you if you wind up with a vitamin deficiency from a vegan diet. According to Wikipedia, some of the most common deficiencies associated with all-plant diets are calcium, iodine, vitamin B12 and vitamin D. Though, eating only plant proteins and cutting out all meat-related ones would also cut down on your fat and cholesterol intake.

Some good plants to try for getting a high-quality protein diet include spirulina, quinoa, soy, buckwheat, hempseed, and amaranth, as these all contain complete proteins.

Take a look at this chart, which shows the protein density of all kinds of foods (though doesn't explicitly say what amino acids they are rich in): http://www.soystache.com/plant.htm