Plant Proteins or Animal Proteins. What’s The Difference?
We in the food industry always want to provide the most optimized nutrition in the products we create. Currently, there is much interest in food protein quality as a crucial part of a healthy diet. Knowing some essential differences between plant-based proteins and animal-based proteins can help food companies make decisions when developing and formulating new quality products and ingredients. Each protein source comes with pros and cons, as we will discuss.
What Is the Difference Between Plant Proteins and Animal Proteins?
Proteins are the building blocks of the human body. They help to regulate how our bodies function including our health, growth, hormones, enzymes, and antibodies. The molecular building blocks of proteins are known as amino acids. Our bodies can synthesize some types of amino acids, known as non-essential amino acids. Other amino acids are known as essential amino acids which must be obtained through our diet. (Alcorta et. al., 2021)
There are 20 to 22 amino acids, of which nine are considered essential. Amino acids are further categorized as essential (aka indispensable), dispensable, and conditionally indispensable. A protein that is high quality or complete has adequate levels of digestible and absorbable indispensable (essential) amino acids.
Most animal-based proteins—such as derived from products including milk, eggs, and beef— are considered complete proteins as a single ingredient contains all nine essential amino acids. While plant-based proteins contain essential amino acids, a single plant source may not contain all nine essential amino acids in adequate quantity. (Lopez et. al., 2021)
For example, while legumes are generally high in the essential amino acid lysine, they are low in the sulfur-containing essential amino acid methionine. Notably, some legumes are also high in the conditionally indispensable amino acids glycine, arginine, and glutamine. At the same time, grains, which lack adequate dietary levels of lysine, have sufficient levels of the sulfur-containing amino acid methionine (Hertzler et. al., 2020).
Plant-based proteins tend to have lower concentrations of essential amino acids. For example, leucine and lysine are particularly important for muscle protein synthesis, especially for older adults, but these amino acids may be available in lower amounts of plant-based products per same volume of animal-based proteins. As such, more plant-based food may need to be eaten to consume same levels of essential amino acids.
However, with the variety of plant-based sources of proteins, there are many opportunities to develop plant-based foods with complete amino acid profiles. For example, fortifying plant-based proteins with specific essential amino acids or blending several plant protein sources can provide the full range of amino acids. (Berrazaga et. al., 2019)
These are exciting times for food industry members engaged in the plant-based protein market. According to the research team at MarketsandMarkets, the global plant-based protein market size was valued at USD $10.3 billion in 2020 and is on track to reach USD $15.6 billion by 2026. The growth is attributed to innovative technologies and the growing use of plant-based protein extraction.
What Is Being Done to Improve Amino Acid Content in Plant-Based Proteins?
One way to improve the amount of amino acid profile in a plant-based diet is for consumers to increase the overall food intake to meet energy requirements. This may be difficult to achieve as it requires relatively large quantities of whole plant foods. Fortunately, there are currently ongoing strategies to improve the protein food quality of plant-based foods. (Hertzler et. al., 2020)
In several studies, success has been shown to stimulate protein synthesis with plant-based proteins fortified with specific amino acids. Furthermore, blending cereals with legumes or fortifying cereal foods with legumes shows improvement in their essential amino acid composition which promotes better protein retention in the body. Another potential avenue showing high potential is using conventional plant breeding or genetic engineering to the amino acid content of plant-based proteins (Berrazaga et. al., 2019).
Beyond fortifying, breeding, and blending techniques to improve amino acid content in plant-based foods, some novel innovations are undergoing exploration. This emerging approaches include investigation into developing microalgae as a source of protein from plants, for example. Another interesting area being evaluated is research into new microbial fermentation techniques to increase protein in dairy alternatives. (Alcorta et. al., 2021)
Technological Strategies Help Reach Food Protein Quality with Protein from Plants
A diet consisting of animal-based proteins or plant-based proteins, with science and technology, can ensure all the healthy amino acid requirements are met. With a growing share in the marketplace, the demand for plant-based protein is increasing leading to continued research and development in new novel plant-based protein ingredients and finished products.
At Eurofins, our network of laboratories, innovation, agility, individualized service, and commitment to the highest standards of scientific evidence are here to partner with industry innovators engaged in food protein quality. We can provide personalized testing services to food companies to support the formulation and labeling of products containing animal-based proteins.
