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Essential amino acids in plant food

Essential amino acids (EAAs) are amino acids that are necessary to build proteins in an organism. The source of complete EAAs are both animal and plant-based food.

Essential amino acids in plant food

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Essential amino acids (EAAs) are the amino acids required by an organism for building proteins but which cannot be synthesized by the organism itself. As such it is essential that these amino acids be supplied by the organism's diet. In case of humans there are 9 EAAs: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.[1]

EAAs are provided in both animal and plant-based food. The EAAs in plants vary greatly due to the vast variation in the plant world and, in general, plants have much lower content of proteins than animal food.[2][3] Some plant-based foods contain few or no EAAs, e.g. some sprouts, mango, pineapple, lime and melon. On the other hand, nuts, seeds, beans and peas contain EAAs in significant quantity. The following table shows the composition of EAAs in selected plant foods as well as recommended dietary allowances.(RDA[4])

EAAs content in plant foods[2](mg/100g) in comparison to RDA[4](for a 70-kg man (mg)) and chicken breast.1
Histidine Isoleucine Leucine Lysine Methionine

+ Cysteine

Phenylalanine

+ Tyrosine

Threonine Tryptophan Valine Total EAAs

content

RDA 700 1400 2730 2100 1050 1750 1050 280 1820 12880
Chicken, breast, raw 839 1104 1861 2163 821 1718 1009 283 1165 10963
Soybeans, mature seeds, raw 1097 1971 3309 2706 1202 3661 1766 591 2029 18332
Cashew nuts, raw 456 789 1472 928 755 1459 688 287 1094 7928
Pumpkin and squash seed, roasted 770 1265 2388 1220 922 2790 985 569 1559 12468
Beans, white, mature seeds, raw 650 1031 1865 1603 605 1921 983 277 1222 10157
Peas, mature seeds, raw 586 983 1680 1771 468 1669 813 159 1035 9164
Quinoa, raw 407 504 840 766 512 860 421 167 594 5071
Wheat, durum 322 533 934 303 507 1038 366 176 594 4773
Rice, white, raw 153 281 538 235 286 565 233 75 397 2763
Tofu, raw, regular 221 435 713 452 137 787 402 120 446 3713
Seaweed, spirulina, dried 1080 3210 4950 3020 1812 5360 2970 929 3510 26841

1Chicken was chosen as it is the most eaten animal food and it has one of the highest amount of EAAs among animal-based foods.

Soybeans have the highest content of EAAs among the foods. Spirulina is a superior supplement containing the highest amount of EAAs. Another important factor is the composition of EAAs. As we can see the quantity of some EAAs is lower. For example, pumpkin seeds despite high total EAAs content have a low content of lysine. A good indication is to calculate the food sample that meets the WHO's requirement of EAAs intake. A table below shows the smallest sample food required to provide all EAAs according to the RDA for each individual EAA.

Amounts of sample foods required to provide a minimum amount of each EAA to equal the RDA (for a 70-kg man)
Chicken Soybeans Cashew Pumpkin seeds Beans Peas Quinoa Wheat Rice Tofu
156 g 90 g 226 g 172 g 173 g 224 g 325 g 693 g 893 g 766 g

Soybeans have the smallest sample food that provide complete protein, smaller than for several animal foods.[5] Food samples for nuts, seeds, beans, and peas are bigger than one of chicken, and in case of rice, the sample is simply unpractical - the known fact is that cereals are not the main source of proteins.

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References

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  1. ^ "Amino acids: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia". medlineplus.gov. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  2. ^ a b "FoodData Central". fdc.nal.usda.gov. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  3. ^ "Amino acids in food" (PDF). www.livsmedelsverket.se.
  4. ^ a b "Protein and Amino Acid Requirements in Human Nutrition" (PDF). apps.who.int.
  5. ^ "Table 5 Amounts of sample foods required to provide [B] a total amount of EAAs equal to the recommended daily sum of total EAAs (i.e., ~12.9 g) or [C] the RDA for each individual EAA". Scientific Reports. ISSN 2045-2322.
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