Alright guys, don’t beat me up too much, but this is one of those topics I wanted to
cover where I feel like people need to take a small step back and really understand the
science.
As you all might know, I LOVE science, I base most of my content on science and research,
and if I ever have children, I’d probably name my firstborn ScienceFit.
So when I see topics like this, where the general consensus seems to go way into one
direction while the science might goes another, I feel that it will be very nice to kind of
reset the stage a little bit.
Of course, this is not me necessarily trying to change your minds completely, I’ll wait
until my mind control video for that one, but to present a different viewpoint on a
matter so that you can make a more well-rounded opinion.
Not as round as my head, but in fairness, I do have some amazing genetics.
Maybe he’s born with it, maybe it’s photoshop.
And of course, as you might have guessed by the title, this topic is about plant-based
PROTEIN in the realm of fitness.
Protein and science, my word, I love it!
But yes, plant-based nutrition in general doesn’t exactly have the bestest reputation
for your gainz.
Many experts and even at times myself, have stated that plant-based proteins are generally
of “lesser” quality than animal-based proteins.
But, this term of “lesser quality” can easily be misconstrued to the point of some
believing that plant-based proteins just plainly SUCK.
In reality, there’s a lack of perspective here, the bigger picture.
And we’ll come to a better understanding of that by first looking at the factors that
do determine protein quality.
It boils to two main factors: Get ready, we’re about to get a bit educational!
The first important factor to determine protein quality is a protein’s biological value.
An easy way to think about biological value is our ability to digest, absorb and utilize
the amino acids from a given protein source.
Not all protein sources are equal.
Some require more work to digest and absorb, and some do not provide the quote “proper”
mix of amino acids we need for muscle growth.
And, this mix of amino acids, or a protein’s amino acid profile, is the second most important
factor.
A protein with a good amino acid profile will have a large variety of different amino acids
as well as sufficient amounts of each to complement one another.
More importantly, a high quality profile will contain sufficient amounts of “ESSENTIAL”
amino acids.
Essential amino acids, or EAAs, are amino acids that our body needs but cannot produce
on its own, and there are 9 of them: Histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine,
phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.
So, having a decent biological value and a decent amino acid profile are what we want
from the protein we eat.
And by calculating these factors, experts then score different protein sources through
evaluation methods like the DIAAS.
When we do look at DIAAS scores, it is without a doubt that animal-based proteins like pork,
casein, and eggs, score the best, and are considered “excellent quality” proteins.
Interestingly, potatoes scored “excellent quality” as well, the only plant to make
the list.
In reality, most plant proteins do tend to have lower quality amino acid profiles, whether
they lack a specific essential amino acid or just don’t have sufficient amounts overall.
Plant-derived proteins also tend to contain more fiber and anti-nutritional factors, which
can affect digestibility and absorption, which of course then reduces its biological value.
So based on what we see so far, yes, plant proteins do seem to be… lower quality.
But, here is where we need to consider the bigger picture.
In the instances so far, we are only evaluating proteins as single sources.
The thing about us humans, most of us at least, is that we like diversity in our foods.
It’s not uncommon to have more than one ingredient on our plates.
So what if we evaluated not just one protein source at a time, but a combination of different
proteins, especially combinations where the proteins compensate for differences in their
amino acid profile?
Well, a 2020 overview by Herreman and colleagues did just that.
And what they found was that a mixture of plant proteins like soy and wheat, or beans,
corns, and potatoes, have DIAAS scores that were able rival that of the “excellent quality”
animal proteins.
Their amino acid profiles drastically improved with these different combinations.
Which subsequently lead to the researchers concluding that: “any protein material can
reach a higher DIAAS value when combined with an adequate complementary source.”
So much like any type of meal and diet we might follow, having the proper combination
of foods can make a whole world of difference.
And, different protein combinations are no exception.
As far as the best plant options to complement, potato, soy, or pea proteins seem to offer
the best and most well-rounded complementary profile composition.
Now I know some of you are probably still thinking, “BUT MR PICTUREFAT, COMBINING
PROTEINS IS JUST CHEATING!!”
Yes, this is a caveat compared to animal proteins, but again, diversifying our diet is pretty
common and not exactly rocket science to pull off.
Have some potatoes with your soy burger, hotdog, noodles, or whatever else, or add peas into
your plant-based fried rice.
For protein supplements, you can easily find plant-based shakes that combine multiple plant
sources to develop a more robust and complete amino acid profile.
In a previous video, I covered that pea and rice protein shakes are one of the better
options in this matter.
So, there’s definitely a lot of good and easy options out there.
And the idea that combining proteins is not a “fair” comparison doesn’t make much
sense.
But, enough with boring you with all the protein science mumbly jumbly.
Let’s now get on to the EXCITING STUFF: muscle-based research?
No but really, with all this information about protein quality, what matters most is if it
all actually leads to good GAINZ.
Currently, however, the research is a bit limited here and hopefully more research will
be available in the future.
But, we do have two studies in 2020 and 2021 that looked into muscle protein synthesis,
which is the primary metabolic process in building muscle.
In both of these two studies, researchers gave one group of healthy young men animal
based proteins, like chicken breast and milk protein, and gave another group of healthy
young men plant proteins, like wheat and chickpeas.
In the end, both animal and plant proteins were able to stimulate muscle protein synthesis
at similar rates.
Great news for our plant-loving friends.
Again, these studies are only on muscle protein synthesis and not muscle growth directly.
In that matter, we currently only have one study and it’s the only study of its kind
that looked into subjects that exclusively consumed a plant-based diet for at least 1
year prior to the intervention.
In other words, they were habitual vegans.
For 12 weeks, 19 habitual vegan participants and 19 habitual omnivorous participants consumed
a total protein amount equivalent to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of their bodyweight
per day, reaching that amount through protein supplements- soy protein for vegans and whey
protein for omnivores.
They also resistance trained their legs twice a week.
In the end, both groups had significant yet similar increases in leg lean mass, quad muscle
fiber cross sectional area, and their leg-press 1 rep maxes.
So in this study, it seems that as long you GET ENOUGH PROTEIN, then the source of your
protein matters much less.
Important note: although the participants were healthy young men, they were untrained
healthy young men.
Whether these results can translate to trained individuals remains to be seen.
Of course, if new data supports or even goes against what’s said in this video, I’ll
be sure to let you wonderful people know.
Now I’m sure plant-based advocates would have much more to say on why we should eat
a plant-based diet, but for the scope of this video, and just myself, I can only really
speak on the matter of fitness and muscle growth.
Fortunately, with our understanding of protein quality and with some evidence, plant proteins
do look promising.
And full disclosure, I personally do eat animal and plant proteins so if there’s any expectation
of bias there, I hope this clear things up.
In the end, and I’VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR TOO LONG, what we simply gotta do is to get
OUR protein.
Do that, and you’re good to go.
If you enjoyed this video, please give it a quality thumbs up and share it with your
plant-loving friends.
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Thanks for watching and as always, I already said it but gotta say it again, GET YOUR PROTEIN!