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One thing glossed over regularly is that grams of protein is misleading, since a human has essential amino acids requirements that may be absent in some protein

One thing glossed over regularly is that grams of protein is misleading, since a human has essential amino acids requirements that may be absent in some protein sources. I think the slang term for getting all the required amino acids is a "complete protein", which might be a blend of more than one "protein" source, with lentils and certain grains a famous example. Point is that your chart is very cool, but has a single column tracking grams of protein, and that's too low resolution of information to know if those grams themselves are adequate in represented amino acids. you could go over recommended grams of protein and be missing types of protein constituents in so doing.

SeanAnderson 3y ago
Yeah, true enough! The screenshot is from MyFitnessPal - I think there's more complete tools out there. Fortunately, poultry eggs and dairy are all complete proteins and those comprise essentially all the proteins in the screenshot :) Certainly something to be mindful of if you're trying to cram beans to get your numbers, though.
sn9 3y ago
You'd be hard-pressed to find a food that's completely missing a particular amino acid. Most "incomplete sources of protein" still will get you what you need if you eat enough of it (in practical amounts, not impractical technically true amounts). That said, if you're eating a sufficiently diverse diet, this shouldn't be a problem. And if you're going out of your way to get sufficient protein, tracking what you eat, etc., this is unlikely to be a problem. Particularly if you're eating more than enough protein by any measure, lacking particular amino acids is a non-issue.
- jjtheblunt 3y ago
  > That said, if you're eating a sufficiently diverse diet, this shouldn't be a problem. that's the key...with a diverse diet in adequate quantity. a counterexample would be a diet of blueberries and a huge bucket of lysine, you'd be starving for other essential amino acids, because their "essential" adjective means our livers can not synthesize them...in this contrived example from blueberries and lysine.
- jjtheblunt 3y ago
  > You'd be hard-pressed to find a food that's completely missing a particular amino acid. lentils aren't complete, nor are grains, but the union of their amino acids spans those essential for humans, famously.

SeanAnderson 3y ago

Yeah, true enough! The screenshot is from MyFitnessPal - I think there's more complete tools out there. Fortunately, poultry eggs and dairy are all complete proteins and those comprise essentially all the proteins in the screenshot :) Certainly something to be mindful of if you're trying to cram beans to get your numbers, though.

sn9 3y ago

You'd be hard-pressed to find a food that's completely missing a particular amino acid. Most "incomplete sources of protein" still will get you what you need if you eat enough of it (in practical amounts, not impractical technically true amounts). That said, if you're eating a sufficiently diverse diet, this shouldn't be a problem. And if you're going out of your way to get sufficient protein, tracking what you eat, etc., this is unlikely to be a problem. Particularly if you're eating more than enough protein by any measure, lacking particular amino acids is a non-issue.

jjtheblunt 3y ago
> That said, if you're eating a sufficiently diverse diet, this shouldn't be a problem. that's the key...with a diverse diet in adequate quantity. a counterexample would be a diet of blueberries and a huge bucket of lysine, you'd be starving for other essential amino acids, because their "essential" adjective means our livers can not synthesize them...in this contrived example from blueberries and lysine.
jjtheblunt 3y ago
> You'd be hard-pressed to find a food that's completely missing a particular amino acid. lentils aren't complete, nor are grains, but the union of their amino acids spans those essential for humans, famously.