Sources Of Protein in Vegetarian Food

Although most vegetarian food includes a considerable amount of protein, vegetarians often do not absorb as much as they would on a non-vegetarian diet. This is because plant proteins are considerably less digestible than animal proteins, which contain amino acid chains that are closer or identical to human amino acid chains.

Consuming animal proteins might yield close to a 1:1 absorption ratio, while plant proteins in vegetarian food, such as wheat, might only yield 50% of the amino acids needed to build a "complete protein" or a protein that can readily be assimilated into the human body.

In order to absorb a healthy amount of protein from vegetarian food, vegetarians must consume a variety of plant proteins to form complete amino chains. By eating vegetables, legumes, seeds, nuts, fruits, and whole grains, vegetarians can increase the amount of complete proteins they create by combining a number of varieties of amino acid chains.

Vegetarians must also consume a larger amount of vegetarian food that contains protein because plant proteins are generally harder to digest. While a nutritional label may suggest that pasta has 5 grams of protein per serving; you may only be able to digest 2-3 grams of that protein, which means you must complement the pasta with other sources of protein.

In addition to natural sources of protein, vegetarians should also seek vegetarian food that is "protein-fortified"-- or artificially-infused with protein.

For example, many supermarkets offer a variety of vegetarian food such as "protein-fortified" pasta and bread. Some pasta contains as much as 12 grams of protein per serving.

Soy milk is also a good source of protein for vegetarians. Studies on isolated soy protein show that it can be absorbed nearly as well as animal proteins, yielding close to a 1:1 protein absorption ratio.

For non-vegan vegetarians, yogurt, milk, and eggs (which contain complete proteins) are all excellent sources of protein.

As a vegetarian you have a number of options to boost your protein intake - and you should consider taking advantage of all of them. You should diversify your vegetarian food selections, drink more soy products, and eat "protein-fortified" breads and pasta.