There was a recent post here a few days ago about the semantics of protein sources with a complete amino acid profile and an incomplete one. Naturally this was in response to a question about whey and plant based proteins.
I recall a similar discussion about the amino acid profile with respect to the Netflix documentary “The Game Changers”, when some of the early critiques pointed out plant based protein and the lack of a full amino acid profile.
I think it’s a very reasonable position that a balanced diet will provide all the amino acids we need, but my question back then and my question after reading that discussion a few days ago is simply… for the average person, does the amino acid profile really matter?
For instance, for someone not trying to be an Olympic or elite athlete, would the amino acid profile actively work against somebody whose primary goal is just to maintain a healthy lifestyle? I can’t help but wonder if some of the discussions I hear at the gym and with colleagues is a bit of splitting hairs?
I don’t really like the terms complete and incomplete for protein. The person who created the term disavowed it. Even animal based proteins have slightly different amino acid profiles. And all plant proteins do contain all essential amino acids, the ratios are just usually unbalanced. The only truly incomplete protein afaik is gelatin, which has no trytophan. Stronger By Science has a great podcast on this https://youtu.be/UOcbKkznFOg?t=816, specifically talking about protein quality in relation to muscle building. But the advice would apply to anyone, just with different protein amounts.
The advice:
I saw a response that said: concept of complete and incomplete proteins was “disavowed by the inventor” and it totally threw me. Rice and beans is something that keeps many in the Third World alive, it’s a well studied complete protein - what rice lacks the beans provide and vice versa. For example, cultures in South and Southeast Asia with lots of food scarcity are at risk of nutrition issues if they don’t add proteins to their rice staple. Addressing world hunger for the poor of Central and South America and Africa takes into consideration that they have a slightly more favorable diet in terms of dietary habits and resources. Cultures/cuisines that have existed for centuries often tend to sense and find these combinations, long before the abilities to do the science.
This is just to share that “complete vs incomplete” is a scientific “principle” behind how we understand amino acids not a “concept” or phrasing someone can disavow. Like I can’t disavow the relationship between sight and vitamin K. I’m sure people can do weird things trying to advocate vegan vs this or keto vs that and trying to market certain ideas.
More to your question, in my understanding the body can get by without a full complement of all the amino acids in the right ratios for a while. You can definitely workout and stay in shape. You can’t really expect to do weight training and regularly track gains and keep up pound for pound with others, but the body doesn’t need a mouthful of all 9 AA everytime we eat. Depends on what someone’s health and fitness goals are.
> For instance, for someone not trying to be an Olympic or elite athlete, would the amino acid profile actively work against somebody whose primary goal is just to maintain a healthy lifestyle? I can’t help but wonder if some of the discussions I hear at the gym and with colleagues is a bit of splitting hairs?
~100% of the people taking protein supplements receive no objective value from them. If they make them feel better and help them maintain healthy diet & exercise (even if all its doing is helping to manage their hunger/is purely placebo) then great but you don’t need to be suckered in to the scam :)
If you have meat or fish in your diet you will be hitting all the RDA’s for aminos. The RDA’s are designed to be sufficient for 90% of the population + twice the variance over that 90% (so realistically everyone who isn’t a bodybuilder, elite athlete and doesn’t have kidney or liver problems).
If you don’t have meat or fish in your diet you just need to eat more plants. The imbalance concern is purely that plant based sources have a different proportion of aminos to meat based sources and are less bioavailable so just because you have hit 0.8 doesn’t mean you have actually reached your targets for aminos. People on a plant based diet can eat more vegetables, add tofu or add an isolate supplement. Or just eat plenty of beans.
I am pretty consistently under the RDA for protein but track my aminos and am always 100%+ on the essentials. I don’t have much meat in my diet (generally eating out on the weekends only), mostly eggs and fish are my animal protein sources. I also eat lots of navy beans.
As an aside I am really curious how many people on a high protein diet are working against their nutrition & exercise goals. If you are in calorie deficit gluconeogenesis of aminos is going to be creating ammonia which increases muscle fatigue, if you are in surplus your body is using carbs & fat first so excess aminos is going right to body fat.
Complete proteins contain all the nine essential amino acids in the same source. But, incomplete proteins do not contain all essential amino acids in the same source. A combination of two or more incomplete proteins together will produce a complete protein in the diet. For example, cashews don’t have enough lysine or isoleucine to be considered a complete protein.