what is this sub's opinion on vegan protein quality vs meat protein quality?

[caymele]

I came across this video:

And it honestly made me a little bit unmotivated, because I was planning on buying some pea protein powder for eating less meat and keep making gains in the gym. So, just out of curiosity, I wonder what do you guys think about this argument that vegan protein is worse than meat protein, and that it doesn't matter that it's the same amount of protein, you won't get the same results. Thank you in advance!

 

[whothat]

@caymele From the studies I’ve read, absorptivity of pea protein is about ~4-6% less than whey protein. Just drink 6% more and you’ll be equivalent.

All of the pea protein powders I’ve seen have formulated for an optimal AA profile as well.

Don’t listen to the propaganda

 

[caymele]

@whothat Thank you!

 

[milkywaymercy]

@caymele Pea Protein is pretty inexpensive and the one from Anthony's mixes well.

 

[dawn16]

@caymele The grain of truth is that in general, protein from whole plants tends to be less bioavailable and lower in certain amino acids important for muscle growth, but you can easily get around this by either:

• supplementing with a high quality protein powder like pea protein isolate
• eating towards the higher end of what's considered optimal protein intake (~.8-1 g protein/lb bodyweight)

And in the few studies we have comparing muscular hypertrophy/strength gains between animal and plant protein groups, there usually is no difference between the two groups when protein intake is equated. So yes, there are caveats to plant protein to keep in mind, but a lot of uninformed bros take this too far and say things like "you can never make gains on a vegan diet unless you're taking steroids, special supplements, cheating on your diet, etc." which couldn't be farther from the truth.

(Also take What I've Learned's videos with a huge grain of salt, he tends to misrepresent and cherry-pick studies to justify his red meat habit)

 

[caymele]

@dawn16 Thanks for the answer!

 

[dawn16]

@caymele https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36822394/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33599941/

Both show equivalent muscle growth for an omnivorous and vegan diet. One of them had habitual vegans and omnivores, the other one had omnivores who ate either a vegan or an omnivore diet for the study period.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/1856

I also came across this study. In this one athletes switched to a vegan diet for eight weeks (after eight weeks of maintaining their normal diet). Their protein intake lowered significantly but no impact on their strength was observed in the eight weeks of the study.

 

[ohgemma]

@caymele The guy who runs that channel is honestly just a charismatic idiot who doesn’t understand how to read scientific papers and seemingly purposely misleads his audience.

Here are a couple well made debunks to that exact video and they cite the science as well;

Lifting Vegan Logic:

Mic The Vegan:

In short; if you are eating the same amount of protein you will get the same amount of gains regardless of where that protein is sourced.

 

[caymele]

@ohgemma Thank you very much for the answer! I was hoping for something like this. I'll give it a try. I think I'll buy that orgain protein powder.

 

[cassian]

@caymele Orgain is also the most amazing protein powder ever so good call hahaha

 

[kristinat]

@caymele If you see protein listed on a plant product, think can of beans, assume you will be using 60% of what is listed. So if I want a meal with 30 grams of protein the "labels" should add up to 50.
Plant based protein powders are different if they are an isolate. I don't remember the numbers, I just remember that I don't need to worry about it so I supplement with my pea protein pretty much 1:1.

Edit: first couple sentences reference protein sources like beans, tofu, nuts, etc, not processed protein powders.