Protein quality of vegan and vegetarian university canteen dishes
- 13.01.2025
- English Articles
- Bente Hansen
- Kristin Dahl
- Anja Bosy-Westphal
- Janna Enderle
Peer reviewed / Manuscript (original) submitted: 25 March 2024; revision accepted: 29 July 2024
Protein quality of vegan and vegetarian university canteen dishes
of the Studentenwerk Schleswig-Holstein using the example of the University of Kiel
Introduction
Particularly among young adults, the proportion is high of those who eat a plant-based diet low in animal foods [1, 2] and the demand for vegan lunch menus in campus catering is therefore correspondingly high [3]. In addition to potential health benefits, the orientation of the food offering towards a more plant-based and, in particular, low-meat food in public catering has a benefit in terms of climate and resource protection [4].
However, animal protein sources usually have a higher protein quality than plant sources [5, 6]. These also contain all 9 indispensable Amino Acids (AA) (Indispensable Amino Acids, IAA), but often not in a comparably balanced amount with regard to human requirements. In cereals, for example, the IAA lysine is limiting, and in legumes it is often the sulfur-containing AA methionine and cysteine (Sulphur Amino Acids, SAA) [7, 8]. In addition, the bioavailability of AA can be reduced by antinutritive factors such as phytic acid, protease and trypsin inhibitors, lectins or tannins [9, 10]. Therefore, for most plant proteins, it is necessary to complement the limiting IAA with a suitable combination of plant protein sources to achieve a protein quality comparable to animal sources [11, 12]. ...
Abstract
The demand for plant-based nutrition is increasing in public catering and is particularly high in campus catering and gastronomy. Based on recipes from the Studentenwerk Schleswig-Holstein’s (student services organization) lunch menu, the protein quality was calculated using the Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score (DIAAS) for 46 vegan, 11 vegetarian and 9 meat-containing dishes, taking into account ileal digestibility coefficients from the literature. About half of the vegan dishes were of low protein quality (DIAAS < 75). This was due to a lack of intake of lysine from grain products or of sulfur-containing amino acids from legumes when these were the first protein-providing ingredient and were not adequately complemented. For this reason, when planning vegan dishes it is recommended to focus on ingredients with a high lysine content and also a high ileal digestibility of the lysine.
