PDCAAS - Not All Protein is Created Equal

Have you ever wondered which protein sources rank among the most useful in your aspirations to build a better body? Well, the 'Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score' (PDCAAS) can give us a reliable measure of exactly how useful various protein sources are for humans.

The formula, for those who are interested, is -

(mg of 'limiting amino acid' in 1g of test protein / mg of same amino acid in 1g of reference protein) x fecal true digestibility percentage.

Though the PDCAAS was originally designed to evaluate the ideal sources of protein for malnourished children, it is perhaps one of the most useful tools we have in this regard (for now).

Don't be scared by the decimal points, etc. Basically, we can convert this into a percentage score by multiplying the PDCAAS by 100%.

As such, we can see that casein (milk protein) and egg whites are perhaps most useful to the human body, while everything else begins to drop thereafter.

The Takeaway:

We can see from the PDCAAS that the most useful forms of protein come from animal products. Regardless of it's intended use, one of the most important points to take away from the PDCAAS is the superiority of certain sources of protein in comparison to others.

Though the human body does receive and utilise some portion of the protein found in vegetarian sources, these figures are indicative that vegans and vegetarians may want to be particularly careful in their selection of complementary protein sources, given the lack of certain amino acids in vegetarian foods.

For your convenience, perhaps the most common way to complement  a grain based mean (for a vegetarian / vegan), for example, is using nuts / seeds.