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Re: Protein
      04/08/14 12:35 PM
jwoolman

Reged: 04/08/14
Posts: 6


Depends on what is meant. Yes, plant foods have all the human essential amino acids and the body just breaks down all protein from any source (including animal sources) into its constituent amino acids and then uses them to build proteins needed for our own bodies. An individual plant food might lack some of our amino acids but we eat other plant foods that have what the other lacks. Or the food might just be low in one of our amino acids but we eat enough of it to make up for that. As long as we get enough of our list of amino acids over the course of a few days, we're fine (no need to carefully combine foods, although many common combos actually result in a complete amino acid profile for us). I have a vegan protein powder that uses a combination of pea protein, rice protein, hemp seeds, and chia seeds to quite tastily make up the complete human amino acid profile (all our essential amino acids in proportions used by our bodies).

This is why humans can thrive on just plant foods, even a limited set, and have done so in many times and cultures. We need other things besides protein, though, so we also need to consider vitamin and mineral content. My Irish ancestors managed on almost a mono diet of potatoes before the blight because in the amounts eaten, potatoes had enough Vitamin C to ward off scurvy etc. (lucky me!). Many people worry about B12 for vegans but that isn't as hard to get as carnivores assume or else none of us would be here today. The only person I knew with a real B-12 deficiency was a carnivore and eating plenty of meat; probably stress was depleting her stores. There are other sources besides animals, although today supplements are cheap insurance.

Each species has its own list of essential amino acids. Cats are obligate carnivores because a couple of their amino acids are not readily available to them in sufficient amounts in plant foods. But a few decades ago, some clever humans started extracting those amino acids from plant sources and adding them to plant-based wet and dry cat food which is a complete vegan protein source for nature's perfect little carnivores. Apparently generations of cats have now thrived on such things, although I don't know how they kept test cats from supplementing their diets with mice and bugs. But the idea is sound, at least from the protein perspective. Apparently it tastes good also. I've offered Evolution vegan cheezburger kitty krunchies to my feline staff, and the picky old guy really likes it so I use it to stimulate his appetite for his other food (the junior cat eats anything and is no test). I had an elderly cat join the crew years ago who turned out to be a closet vegetarian, eating a lot of tomatoes (she insisted on organic only), tofu, grains, rice dream nondairy pudding, peas, carrots, potatoes, ground nuts, seeds, etc. - she would just get in my face until I shared. The doc said it was fine and not unusual. Homemade diets for cats have never been all meat: my cats' doctor always recommended about 1/3 meat for the do-it-yourself folks.

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* Protein
mradams1
03/21/14 11:05 AM
* Re: Protein
jwoolman
04/08/14 12:35 PM

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