Details on Protein Function, Your Daily Protein Requirement & Vegetarian Protein Need

Know all the details on protein, functions of protein, your daily protein requirement and how vegetarians meet out their protein requirement. Proteins are the building block of our body.

Protein is one of the essential food ingredients. Proteins are made up of amino acids. Amino acids (22 amino acids in all) are essential for building, maintaining and repairing muscles and are said to be the building blocks of our body.

There are two types of proteins. Some foods like e.g. dairy products, meat, fish and eggs contain sufficient amounts of all the essential amino acids, are known as first class proteins. Second class proteins contain only some of the essential amino acids. Vegetable proteins belong to second class.

Our body cannot make 9 of the 22 common amino acids, so they must be obtained via food. All these nine amino acids are essential for our body to make protein. We can get these amino acids from our diet. Note that when we talk about the protein content of a food, we mean the amino acids that make protein in our body.

What is the function of protein in our body?

Protein is essential for us for various functions:

1. Growth of body tissue
2. Repair of body tissue
3. Red blood cells
4. Proper functioning of antibodies that resist infection
5. Regulation of enzymes and hormones

Protein Deficiency

Loss of body protein can occur because of stress, surgery, hemorrhage, wounds or prolonged illness and also heavy exercise. Protein deficiency may affect growth and tissue development, especially the hair, nail, skin and muscle tone.

How much protein do we need daily?

According to the RDA recommendations, our protein requirement is of 0.8 to 1.0 gram of protein for every kilogram of our body weight (or about 0.36 to 0.45 gram of protein per pound that you weigh) daily. Roughly, the protein requirement is about 10-15% of calories coming from protein daily.

The protein requirements for sport athletes like runners, cyclists and triathletes are from 25 to 50% more (0.5 to 0.72 gram of protein per pound of body weight) than for non active individuals.

Example:
If your body weight = 55 kg and
your calorie requirement = 2200 calories per day, then
your protein requirement = 55 kg x 1 gram/kg = 55 gram.
Since 1 gram of protein provides 4 calories,
55 gram of protein x 4 calories/gram of protein
= 220 calories from protein per day. or
(220/2200) x 100 = 10% of calories from protein.

It is generally said that a vegetarian diet is low in protein. The fact is that the protein foods like pulses (peas, beans and lentils), nuts, seeds and grains in a vegetarian diet are packed with proteins, these are High Protein Foods. The vegetarians can meet their requirement of protein easily if they eat a variety of protein rich foods in amounts providing them enough calories to maintain their weight. Almost all vegetables, beans, grains, rice, tofu,nuts and seeds contain protein. Note that protein in pulses is 27% of calories, in nuts and seeds 13% and in grains 12%. On the other hand, fruits, sugars, fats and alcohol are low in protein.