Overall amount of EAAs / chemical score vs protein content

[sgtbrimcg36]

Over the last years there have been ever more vegan protein powders on the market. One important aspect is the biological value of these products, hence how good your body can absorb the protein for protein synthesis . Soy ranks highest of the plant protein sources with a score of 82, whereas wheat for example has a score of 56-59.
Most powders are multicomponent ones to increase the absorption rate and ensure a complete amino acid profile.

I'm still wondering which factor is more significant. The amount of EAAs per 100g of product, which determines the chemical score, or the overall protein content.
Let's take 3 different brands. Brand A is a soy isolate with 88g protein and 25g of EAAs / 100g product. B is multicomponent powder based on pea and hemp protein containing 67g of protein and 28g of EAAs. C is pea, pumpkin and sunflower protein with 70g of protein and 37g of EAAs.

The soy isolate from brand A has to most amount of protein, nearly 90g, but the least amount of EAAs, especially compared to Brand C. Which product is now better suited for protein synthesis and which factor has more weight to it? 20g more protein vs 12g more EAAs.

I'm aware this is kind of nitpicking but I'm just really curious when it comes to nutrition and how one can improve it.
Looking forward to your input.

 

[leudoca]

@sgtbrimcg36 "The soy isolate from brand A has to most amount of protein, nearly 90g, but the least amount of EAAs, especially compared to Brand C"

Its not just about the amount of EEAs, but the distribution of those EEAs. Some protein powders will have for example added lysin (I think that's the one) to increase the amout of total EEAs while having a poor distribution of the rest.

So you would want to take the EEA total X the bioavailability at that distribution.

The soy might be 25g x 0.82 = 20.5

Brand C would be 37 x ? = ?

I generally look at the distribution and total EEAs in a protein powder

 

[sgtbrimcg36]

@leudoca Thanks for the great input! Can you tell me me what a proper distribution of EAAs look like or which ones are 'more essential' than others? I thought leucine and isoleucine were quite important but that definitely makes sense. I assumed powders with added EAAs generelly had a better rate of absorption, Vivo does this as well for example.

Not sure how one measures the bioavailability with multicomponent powders. Brand C consists of: 72% pea, 15% pumpkin seed, 5% sunflowerseed protein and 5% of walnut flour.

So far I took the total amount of protein, as well as EAAs into account. Next time I'll add the distribution of those EAAs to my list, thanks for the advice mate.

 

[icequeen27]

@sgtbrimcg36 Sunflower seeds may help lower blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar as they contain vitamin E, magnesium, protein, linoleic fatty acids and several plant compounds.

 

[katie4469]

@sgtbrimcg36 A more useful comparison might be to compare the limiting EAA in each protein powder.

 

[sgtbrimcg36]

@katie4469 Sounds good, would you tell me which ones I do have to look out for?

 

[katie4469]

@sgtbrimcg36 You would need to look at the amino acid profile for each protein powder that you’re interested in, and compare it to the “optimal” amino acid profile (see here). The limiting EAA will be different for each type of protein (or blend).

 

[sgtbrimcg36]

@katie4469 I'll give that a shot, thanks for the advice

 

[katie4469]

@sgtbrimcg36 You're welcome!

 

[clementinemoon]

@sgtbrimcg36 I probably won't answer your question but my factor would be amino score/price, but it also depends on the diet. I mix plain proteins: pea+rice+hemp, I consider only price/g of actual protein (not the total weight of powder) and since I didn't find amino score of this combination (and the score of individual proteins is irrelevant), I can change the ratios according to what is my biggest source of protein from meals (in my case legumes), so I mix more rice (grains) vs. pea . and I avoid soy protein because I have enough soy in my diet

 

[sgtbrimcg36]

@clementinemoon That's a good point as well, one wants to get the best bang for the buck of course. Interesting, are you looking for exact ratios when combing the different protein sources? Cause for example one can increase the chemical score of wheat protein when it's combined with legumes at a 60:40 ratio as far as I'm concerned. Do you just use the proteins in shakes or also other meals?

 

[clementinemoon]

@sgtbrimcg36 I just know that a combination of legumes+grains has very good amino acid score, so I chose pea+rice (I also avoid wheat protein because I have enough from pasta and bread), I'm too lazy to do the math and because my protein intake from meals is more from legumes vs. grains, in protein shakes I just mix more rice vs. pea. I don't like meals with protein powders, I prefer plain shakes, and I use it only if necessary (if I need to hit my protein target after my last meal)

 

[sgtbrimcg36]

@clementinemoon Yeah your right and totally fine not doing the math, it's not necessary. I'll definitely remember getting a pea and rice protein, but in general if one has many different protein sources in the diet its always better than heavily relying on one.

 

[kjkc]

@sgtbrimcg36 If you're most concerned about bioavailability, I'd try vegan whey

 

[sgtbrimcg36]

@kjkc What's different about vegan whey compared to other multicomponent powders? I wasn't aware that vegan whey was its own entity, I always assumed it's just for marketing reasons haha.

 

[kjkc]

@sgtbrimcg36 Perfect Day has engineered a “microflora”(Trichoderma reesei) to digest sugar and convert it to beta-lactoglobulin, which is just one of the proteins in whey, but the most prevalent one. So you get “whey protein” without the cows. If you have a milk allergy or whey sensitivity maybe avoid it, but it’s a good option if you want protein with more lysine and methionine.

Link to the vegan whey protein currently on the market:

https://californiaperformance.co

 

[sgtbrimcg36]

@kjkc Thanks for sharing mate! I'm from Germany but this still is a valuable insight nonetheless

 

[heathercc7774]

@sgtbrimcg36 If you pay us (for dexa scan and powder) we can give you data

 

[sgtbrimcg36]

@heathercc7774 Sadly I'm from Germany, I reckon you're from the US?
It's not that important, I'm just looking for some practical advice what to look out for when I'm purchasing my next powder[sup]^[/sup]