Know all the details on protein, functions of protein, your daily portein requirement and how vegetarians meet out their protein requirement.
Protein & Protein Function
Protein is made up of amino acids. Amino acids are essential for building, maintaining and repairing muscles and are said to be the building blocks of our body. Our body cannot make 9 of the 20 common amino acids. All these nine amino acids are essential for our body to make protein. Our body actually need these amino acids to make protein, not 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:
Growth of body tissue
Repair of body tissue
Red blood cells
Proper functioning of antibodies that resist infection
Regulation of enzymes and hormones
Daily Protein Requirement
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 nonactive 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.
Proteins in Vegetarian Diet
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 foods high in protein. The vegetarinas can meet their requirment 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, 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.
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