Tidbit Tuesday - Plant-Based Protein VS Animal-Based Protein
Hello,
Welcome to another Tidbit Tuesday where we aim to teach you something new about health, nutrition, lifestyle, training, and so much more, every week!
Today we are talking about Plant-Based Protein VS Animal-Based Protein.
Is there a difference in the protein that we get from plants and animals?
Protein is something that we don't store in our body, yet it makes up about 20% of our body, and so we must ensure we are getting enough each day from our diet.
You can get protein from many food sources, including plants and animals.
Some people claim that the source of the protein, whether animal or plant, shouldn’t matter.
Claims of plant-based proteins being on par with animal-based proteins for supporting muscle growth have been gaining momentum in recent years.
This is due to a combination of the growing popularity of plant-based diets, as well as a swell of recent research suggesting that the “green” alternatives can hang in there with the big boys.
Traditionally, it has been a understood that plant proteins are inferior to animal proteins due to a lesser proportion of essential amino acids.
Combining this with lower digestibility, and you end up with a seemingly obvious conclusion about why plant proteins are considered inferior to animal proteins. But of course, it’s not that simple, let's look at why.
When eaten, protein is broken down into amino acids. Proteins and amino acids are used for almost every metabolic process in the body. However, different proteins can vary greatly in the types of amino acids they contain.
While animal proteins tend to contain a good balance of all the amino acids that we need, some plant proteins are low in certain amino acids.
In total, there are around 20 amino acids that the human body uses to build proteins.
9 of which our bodies can NOT produce on its own and we must obtain them through our diet. These are called essential amino acids.
For optimal health, your body needs all the essential amino acids in the right ratios.
Animal protein sources, such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy, are similar to the protein found in your body.
These are considered to be complete sources of protein because they contain all of the essential amino acids that your body needs to function effectively.
On the contrary, plant protein sources, such as beans, lentils and nuts are considered to be incomplete, as they lack one or more of the essential amino acids that your body needs.
As far as protein is considered, there are plenty of good options that will certainly help with building and maintaining muscle.
Anyone involved in the nutrition game a while as either a professional or enthusiast has observed the “battle” between whey protein (touted as the gold standard) and various challengers, the most frequent one being soy protein.
On top of soy, other plant-based proteins include rice protein, pea protein, hemp protein, corn protein, among several others.
Some sources report soy protein as complete. However, two essential amino acids are only found in small amounts in soy, so it isn’t comparable to animal protein.
Plant foods like rice, peas and seeds are not protein-packed the way meat and fish are, but food processors can remove most of the fat and carbs and isolate the protein found in these foods to make protein-rich powders.
Meaning, as a vegetarian or vegan, through diet alone you may have a hard time getting sufficient amounts of protein and will almost definitely have to supplement more complete proteins into your daily diet.
Of course, proteins are rarely found in isolation. They usually come with a wide variety of other nutrients.
Foods that contain animal protein tend to be high in several nutrients that are often lacking in plant foods, such as: vitamin B12, vitamin D, DHA an essential omega-3 fat, heme-iron, and zinc.
We also must ensure we are choosing high quality foods as processed red meat is associated with an increased risk of disease. While unprocessed red meat and other lean meats are generally healthy.
Of course, there are also plenty of nutrients found in plants that are lacking in animal foods. Therefore, eating balanced amounts of both is the best way to get all the nutrients you need.
Diets high in plant protein, such as the vegetarian diet, are linked with many health benefits.
Studies suggest vegetarians tend to have a lower body weight, lower cholesterol, and lower blood pressure levels.
They also have a lower risk of stroke, cancer, and death from heart disease than non-vegetarians.
It’s important to remember that observational studies only report statistical associations. They cannot prove that these benefits were caused by eliminating meat or other animal protein sources.
Elimination diets tend to do really well in the short term. Not necessarily because of what you're consuming, but because of what you are NOT consuming, anymore.
One thing to consider is that people on vegetarian diets tend to be more health-conscious than the general population. We know that consistency is key, and those who are more considerate of each and every choice they make will tend to make more consistent choices.
Therefore, the health benefits of vegetarian diets are likely due to overall healthier diets and lifestyles, rather than any inherent difference between plant and animal proteins.
Answering the question, are plant-based proteins on a level playing field with animal-based proteins for muscle growth?
Technically, the answer is: no, they’re not, particularly when both the acute and chronic studies are taken into consideration.
On a gram-for-gram basis, animal proteins overall are more anabolic; they accomplish muscle growth more efficiently than plant proteins.
That being said, for optimal health, the evidence supports a diet that is low in processed meat, rich in plant protein, with some animal sources such as grass-fed meat, fish, poultry, eggs and dairy.
As plant protein food sources often have lower quality proteins, vegetarians and vegans should eat a wide variety of foods, supplement to fill in the gaps, and ensure that they are getting all the amino acids that they need.
For meat eaters, it’s important to get the right balance of both animal and plant foods.
Happy muscle building!
Your friend in Health & Fitness,
Coach Sean
