It is more difficult for our body to absorb essential nutrients from plant foods, so some vegans may have an amino acid deficiency essential for muscle and bone health, although they consume a lot of protein.
Although most vegans consume enough protein, many have many essential amino acid deficiency, such as lysine and leucine, according to a new study, in PLOS One.
According to, the discovery suggests that vegans may need more care with the type of protein in your dietand not just the amount they consume.
Patricia Sohfrom the Riddet Institute in Palmerston North, and his colleagues analyzed the 193 adults diet living in New Zealand And they were vegans at least two years before the study.
Participants recorded their entire food, beverages and supplements for a period of four days.
Then the investigators Qthey have intake of participants’ proteins using a New Zealand Food Composition Databasewhich provides information on various nutrients present in the food products of New Zealand.
After taking into account the Body weight and sexthe investigators found that almost 79% of men and 73% of women In the study they met their daily protein needs.
However, a deeper analysis suggests a more complex framework. Proteins are composed of amino acids, nine of which are considered essential, which means that the Human body cannot produce them on their own.
Os Foods of plant origin are less likely than animal products Providing all essential amino acids in a form that the body can easily absorb, so researchers have calculated the participants’ amino acid intake.
The information to do this was not in the New Zealand database, so they used a food base from the US Department of Agriculture and adjusted it based on the body’s ability to absorb amino acids of different foods.
Although most participants seemed to consume essential amino acids in enough, this changed after taking into account the Differences in absorptionwhich revealed that thepenalties about half of them met the daily needs of lysine and leucinetwo crucial amino acids for muscle, bone and metabolic health.
“Our body has no long -term amino acid storage, so they should be consisted in our diet throughout the day,” says Soh. Over time, the deficiency of these nutrients can lead to muscle lossespecially in people already prone to muscle loss, such as the elderly.
However, the short -term nature of this study It does not make it clear if vegans really suffer these consequences for healthit says Micaela Karlsenfrom the University of New England. “The definitive test of how nutrition quality affects health is whether humans have positive or negative health results when they follow specific eating patterns,” says Karllsen.
“And there is a long time that individuals who follow a diet totally based on vegetables have lower rates of chronic diseasess”.
Also It is unclear whether the inadequate intake of lysine and leucine is exclusive to veganssince the study did not analyze people who follow other diets. Still, previous research has shown that the blood levels of these amino acids They are lower in vegans than in omnivores.
Vegans can increase the intake of essential amino acids incorporating vegetables, legumes and other protein -rich plant foods in their daily meals and adding one or two protein -rich snacks, says Karllsen.
Teresa Oliveira Campos, Zap //
