Nutrition and Protein Facts

موضوع: Nutrition and Protein Facts الإثنين مايو 24, 2010 6:25 pm

Protein is one of the essential nutrients that are required by the human body. No other nutrient has a diversified role in keeping us alive and healthy. Protein is needed for cell replacement, maintenance and repair and regulation of a wide range of bodily functions. It is important for the growth and repair of the muscles, bones, skin, tendons, ligaments, hair, eyes and other tissues. Lack of proteins will reduce the enzyme and hormones which are needed for various metabolic activities, digestion and other important functions in the body. Antibodies and other immunity protecting elements are protein in nature and essential to keep us healthy.

Protein in the body
Protein composition in the body is as follows: Muscle contains about 1/3 protein, bone about 1/5 part and skin consists of 1/10 portion. The remaining part of proteins is in the other body tissues and fluids. Hemoglobin is most vital oxygen carrying pigment present in blood.

Our body requires proteins for the purpose of maintenance and healthy growth. The need for protein is especially more for infants, young children, pregnant women and recovering patients. There is a constant breakdown of proteins in the body and this explains the reason why we need to consume proteins on a regular daily basis. It becomes of prime importance to ensure that the daily recommended requirement of protein is met, so as to improve one’s health fitness.

Amino acids: The building blocks of protein
Protein is made up of amino acids as the repeating fundamental units as building blocks. Proteins from different foods in our diet contain different proportions of amino acids. There are 22 amino acids, divided into essential and non-Essential amino acids. Essential amino acids must appear in our diet because they cannot be made by the body. The 8 Essential amino acids we must eat in our diet include: isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine.

Protein digestion and absorption
The protein digestion process basically consists of the breakdown of proteins into amino acids. Digestion occurs in different stages. The initial phase of protein digestion and absorption occurs in the stomach and the second phase takes place in the small intestine.
Distinctive kinds of enzymes aid in the digestion and absorption of proteins. The enzyme pepsin helps in protein digestion in the stomach and it works best when the stomach is acidic. Trypsin and chymotripsin are other proteolytic enzmes derived from pancereas which are secreted into duodenaum. All these enzymes break down the large protein molecules into smaller ones. It is here where the proteins get partly digested in the body.

In the small intestine, other enzymes that take over the charge of protein digestion in the body and aid in protein absorption, by breaking the small protein molecules into amino acids. Protein absorption rate is faster for animal origin foods, rather than vegetarian plant origin foods, perhaps because vegetable proteins usually contain cellulose covering.

Foods high in protein
National and international recommendations for protein intake are based on animal sources of protein such as meat, cow's milk and eggs as a reference. Foods of animal origin contain high-quality proteins. For vegetarians, they need to combine different sources of plant proteins to meet their protein requirements.

Nutrition and Protein Facts Nutritionandproteinfacts

Plant proteins may be less digestible because of intrinsic differencesin the nature of the protein and the presence of other factors such asfiber, which may reduce protein digestibility by as much as 10%.

Protein and diet: Indian recommendations The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of protein according to Indian Council of Medical Research is 1 g/kg body weight for adults

Protein needs for other groups
The RDA increases by 15 g/day during pregnancy and 25 g/day during the first 6 months of Lactation.

During growth, different amounts are needed. For example, 2.05 g of protein are needed per kilogram of body weight each day in the first 6 months of life and 1.65 g/kg for the next 6 months. Protein requirements increase as the growth continues.

Protein and diet—Percentage of calories as protein
The protein RDA suggests that we eat approximately 10–15% of calories as protein in our daily diet.

Protein rich foods

Eggs

Milk

Curd

Fish

Chicken

Soybean

Green gram

Red gram

Bengal gram

Cashew nuts

Ground nuts

Almonds

Benefits of whey protein
Whey protein is derived during the process of conversion of milk into cheese and acts as the best source of amino acids. The quality of proteins in whey is incomparable.

Whey protein AIDS in improving the body's immune system, by acting as an antioxidant. Whey protein supplements are becoming extremely popular among bodybuilders, as they assist in muscle building. It is packed with loads of essential and non-Essential amino acids and the best part about whey protein is that it contains very low fat content.

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