Animal vs. vegetable protein [science vs. feelings] PART 1

agosto 26, 2020

It is more than likely that this is going to be a controversial blog post, but going against the grain is something we are used to. That is why we did not make another chocolate protein candy bar. there are already too many.

We want to offer you contrasted data and information. We are not against plant based diets but we are against biased and false messages.

It is being proven that messages against meat have no scientific based evidence or just that they are plain false. You can check the next articles if you want to have a deeper understanding about the matter, especially the meta-analysis published in Annals of Internal Medicine, without any private funding by the way:

New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/health/red-meat-heart-cancer.html); Nutrition Coalition (https://www.nutritioncoalition.us/news/saturated-fats-limit-unnecessary-journal-of-american-college-of-cardiology)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11312815/

ALL PROTEIN IS NOT EQUAL: NUTRITIONAL DENSITY

We have heard or read many times that we can get all the protein we need from plants and therefore that there is no need to eat animals.

And it is true, you can get enough protein from vegetables but it is a terrible strategy for the huge load of carbs and the low nutritional density of these kinds of diets. You will need an enormous amount of calories to get the same amount of protein.

You will easily need an extra 25-30% more calories, carbohydrates and volume of food to reach an equal amount of protein, which usually translates in an increase in weight and body fat.

Our organism has not the metabolic flexibility to obtain enough protein from digesting only vegetables. These images show in a very graphic way the nutritional superiority of meat in both protein and nutrient content. 

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF AMINO ACIDS.

To put it in a very simple way we could say that our body breaks down protein into amino acids through digestion.

There exist 20 amino acids in nature of which 9 are essential for the correct functioning of our body. Those essential amino acids have to be provided by the food you eat as they can not be generated by our body.

This is the real reason why eating enough protein is very important, and why the kind of protein we eat is equally important as there is a huge difference between the amino acids present in protein from meat and plants.

It is also worth mentioning that approximately a good 20% of our body is protein and that protein and amino acids have a role in almost every metabolic process in our body.

We have a very brief post to explain the basic concepts about protein and amino acids, click here to read more.

WHY ANIMAL PROTEIN IS SUPERIOR TO PLANT PROTEIN

Animal proteins are complete, plant proteins are not.

For optimal health, your body needs all the essential amino acids in the right proportions.

Animal protein sources as red meat, fish, poultry, eggs or dairy have similar amino acid profiles as the ones present in our body.

These are considered whole protein sources because they contain every essential amino acids that your body needs to function properly.

On the other hand, vegetable protein sources such as beans, lentils or nuts are considered as non complete because they lack one or more of the essential amino acids.

Some sources consider soy protein as a whole source of protein. However, two of those essential amino acids are present in very low quantities so they can not be compared with animal protein.

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3905294/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11312815/

We hope you enjoyed this post Meatlover. We will have a follow up post in the upcoming weeks to cover:

• Comparison of nutritional superiority of meat.
• Differences in Vitamins and Minerals content.

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