• Pencilnoob@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I’ve never heard of needing to add grains to make a complete protein. What does that even mean?

    • Linecutter@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Proteins are made from amino acids, same as words are made from letters. If you eat a protein source that’s short on some of those letters then you need to mix it with a source that has more of them… Otherwise you can’t create all the proteins that you need. (It’s a bit more complicated, but that’s the bit that you need here)

      • Falken@lemmy.ca
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        5 months ago

        You must have triggered some vegan to get a downvote. Yeah you need the 9 essential amino acids in your diet as your body can’t synthesize them. They’re called essential for a reason.

      • howrar@lemmy.ca
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        5 months ago

        IIRC, his point was just that it doesn’t have to be in one meal. Your diet as a whole still needs all the amino acids.

        • TJA!@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          Kind of. Most meals already have all the amino acids you need. Even if you were just eating plain rice. But just not as much from some types as others. In beans it would be the other way around.

          If you are already regulating what you eat and praying a lot of attention to the nutritional value or the calorie count, it might make sense to use this hack to limit the amount of food you are eating.

          But if not, you probably are already getting all the amino acids and proteins you need. Just not in the maximal efficient and compact way.