Principal Nutrients

Proteins

The word Protein has it origin in the Greek "protop"(first thing, principal, most important). Proteins are responsible for tissue formation and repair, they also participate in body and intellectual development.

The four most important elements in living things are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.
Proteins are only found in nitrogen; the rest are present in fats. 

Substances with nitrogen as an element, were named proteins by a Dutch chemist named Gerrit Jan Mulder. Such proteins are formed by aminoacids, they are graphically represented by a brick wall. Aminoacids are formed by essential and non-essential aminoacids; essential aminoacids are those which the human body can not find enough of to synthesize, having to find them externally in foods. Non-essential aminoacids can be found from others. Essential aminoacids include: Isoleucina, leucina, lisine, methionine, fenilanine, treonine, throtofane, valine, and maybe histidine. (recent research suggest it could also be essential).

For optimum absorption, aminoacids must be in the right proportion. If a protein is composed of 3 aminoacids, 2 of them essential,  the missing aminoacid  would restrict the absorption or the synthesis of other available aminoacid.

Protein Quality: Meat, fish, dairy products and eggs contain in their composition essential aminoacids needed by human cells. Vegetable proteins are considered incomplete for not containing the essential aminoacids. The term incomplete may be misinterpreted due to the many feeding combinations from which a complete protein may develop.

A Protein's biological value or UPN (Net Protein Unit), establishes itself from the similarity in quantity and variety of aminoacids. The UPN of an EGG WHITE is 94%. All egg proteins are assimilated by our body. Meat has a UPN of 67% compared to flour, UPN of 61%, and Amaranth, UPN 75%.


Even though vegetable proteins are not complete, combination of aminoacids from different types of vegetables produce a high value complete protein with no cholesterol and less purins 

The human body requires proteins, no matter where it may come from. Aminoacid structure remains identical.


¿How much Protein is required?

This study is based on the amount of nitrogen consumed and used per day. A minimum amount of 0,47 g x kg per day was determined; an average optimal amount of 0,80 g x kg of weight per day was established.