Thanks for highlighting the key message – plants CAN get the job done! I hear so often about plants MISSING amino acids and it drives me nuts because it’s just not true.
Plants and animals use the same generic code and the same 20 amino acids. Trust me- I spend way too many years studying genetics!!
Even if you ONLY got protein from beans, which are criticized for being ‘low’ in methionine, you could still get enough. You just need to eat a whole heck of a lot of them! A more appealing solution would be to also eat some grains (quinoa, oats, whole wheat) which are quite rich in methionine. The old ‘rice and beans’ advice is true!
In reality, the more relevant different between plant and animal foods is not the protein but the rest of the package (fiber or lack thereof, water or lack thereof, amount and type of fats, vitamin and mineral profiles).
To do my part in busting the myth of incomplete plant proteins I put some hard numbers together in my article.
Dr Chana Davis
