Protein Requirements- Inconvenient truth
Written By: Milos Pokimica
Medically Reviewed by: Dr. Xiùying Wáng, M.D.
Updated May 28, 2023Maybe one of the most asked questions in the vegetarian and vegan movement is:
Where did you get your protein?
It is so embedded in the subconscious mind of people through all of the mainstream propaganda and marketing that protein is something essential if not the most important so if anything else we need to consume animal products to get protein. The second question is:
Ok if you do not eat meat can you get it from milk?
We have to get our protein from somewhere. If we don’t fulfill our protein requirements we will die, so if not from meat it must be milk. We will address this about milk in the correlated articles (Milk and dairy- Health risk correlations). Many people had asked me where I get my protein, and frankly, I am sick and tired of answering that question. So finally let us have a real scientific analysis of the protein issue so that you can have an adequate understanding of the entire „problem.”
If you are a vegan yourself you will know exactly what to say to people when they ask this question, so please stick around.
Firstly, in the entire nutrition community protein is excepted as something that is essential no question asked. Real enthusiasm becomes almost immediately after it was first discovered. It was called the essence of life.
In the 1890s the USDA recommended an average of 110g of dietary protein requirements per day for an average man.
In 1950 even the UN “recognized“something they called “The world protein gap” and that when looking at indigenous people “deficiency of protein in the diet is the most serious and widespread problem in the world.” Of course, America at that time had postwar “a surplus-disposal problem“ of dried milk.
There is even a disease named Kwashiorkor discovered by Dr. Cicely Williams and blamed on protein deficiency. Dr. Cicely Williams spent the latter part of her life debunking the very condition that she first discovered.
It will be later found that it has nothing to do with protein but more to do with some of the essential amino acid deficiencies due to diets dominated by one single food item with the combination of general malnutrition. It is malnutrition in general terms combined with essential amino acid deficiencies, not protein deficiency and it only happens in children and this is the current scientific consensus. But even this might be false. There’s no real scientific evidence of dietary protein deficiency meaning double-blind placebo control trials. The real reason remains unclear, but fecal transplant studies to some extent suggest changes in gut flora that may be a causal factor or one of the main factors. Even if the cause is essential amino acid deficiencies in a grown-up adult’s body would just cannibalize some of the muscle mass in order to acquire lacking amino acids due to malnutrition. And when you have malnutrition chronically and only are able to acquire a small amount of a single food item that might lack some of the amino acids then your body would not be able to combine different amino acids from different foods to create “complete” protein. There are all of the essential amines in all of the foods basically bat not in adequate amounts. To compensate for lacking amino acids we can eat more or eat different foods, not just corn but that is not what happiness in already malnourished children. It is a disease of malnourishment not a disease of protein deficiency. If these children were getting enough calories even from just corn they would not have Kwashiorkor. It is typically associated with a maize-based diet, recent weaning, measles, or diarrheal illness in combination with malnourishment. Theoretically, this might happen in developed countries as well without macro caloric malnourishment if the diet is dominated by sugar and fat and the child doesn’t eat enough variety. If for some reason you want to raise your children on fruits only it can be done as well but the child would have to eat at least five to ten different fruits every day in combination with green leafy vegetables. This is the natural diet for more than 85% of primates today. Green leaves have all essential amino acids in adequate amounts per calorie. All vegetables unlike fruits have too much sugar and low protein per calorie because of the sugar. There was one case of a 5-year-old British child of Caucasian origin with Kwashiorkor (Lunn et al., 1998).
”Plasma albumin concentration was 16 g/I and the plasma amino acid pattern, which revealed markedly reduced levels of essential but normal to high non-essential amino acids, was similar to that described in kwashiorkor in Uganda.
A dietary history revealed that for about 2 years the child’s diet had contained very little protein but adequate energy and had been supplemented with multivitamin pills.”
(Lunn et al., 1998)
The first blow to protein worship came when anthropologist studies showed that hominins lived on an average of 15 to 20 grams of protein a day. The protein requirements in evolutionary terms were much less than protein requirements labeled by modern science. There were only two options at that point. The science about protein requirements was wrong and/or anthropologist science about hominids’ protein requirements was wrong. It resulted in the so-called “Great protein fiasco” back in the 1970s.
Industry and big pharma did not like that. There were massive recalculations and reductions in human protein requirements. The so-called “world protein gap“ was mentioned no more. It disappeared like it never existed.
For example, an infant’s protein requirement in 1948 was at 13 percent of daily calories and in 1974 protein requirement was at 5.4 percent of calories.
However, still, there are no real numbers, and do not add up to the evolution of our species. It was as high as an industry can get away with. To this day there are paleo, keto, and so on diet people that are obsessing about protein. If you like them protein is a must. No debate there. All we can talk about really is fat and carbs. If you need your protein to be “adequate“ then what is left is fat and carbohydrates. You can have a high-carb diet and low-fat or another way around a high-fat keto low-carb diet.
So, what is your diet? What is the healthiest? Did you ever hear of a low-protein diet or a high-protein diet?
Maybe if you are into bodybuilding or have kidney failure. Three macronutrients are protein, fat, and carbohydrates but no nutritional expert will ever tell you the truth about protein. They are not paid to do so. They will talk about everything they can except the real amount of protein your body needs. Everybody talks about fats and carbs, but suspiciously enough nobody talks about protein.
The only thing you will hear it is essential for life, the building blocks of every cell on earth and you need the most you can get because the more you get it, the better.
A typical American can eat on a regular basis more than 90 grams of protein a day (Fulgoni, 2008). Bodybuilders due to the marketing will end up eating up to 200 grams of protein a day. That is not health-promoting by any standard, but that is not what the industry says to these people. They say the more, the better. The more protein, the faster the muscle will grow. That is, by the way, another lie.
And why did the industry do that?
Well, first so that you will overeat on „high quality” protein because your body needs it. Because of overblown protein requirements, your diet will be focused on meat and dairy. However, the second reason is whey. It was a waste product that the industry dumped down the sewage until someone got the idea to sell it to bodybuilders. So they dehydrated the whey and what was left was dead bacteria with protein. Now you will pay a lot of money to get that waste protein powder so that you will have more protein in your diet. Something you do not need. It is all a scam. Every single thing, and by reading this article to the end you will understand why.
Why don’t we first look around the world and see where the protein is? The first thing to understand is that all protein on this planet is created by plants. Every single amino acid in every cell of every animal on this planet is derived from plants that made it in the first place. Animals are just users, and animals do not create anything. Plants do. Animals consume plants and then other animals consume animals.
There is no plant vs animal protein debate. It is all plant protein and always has been.
In nature hominins were tropical creatures so where is the protein there? If we look at our ancestor’s species and the indigenous people of today what can we see?
If we look at our real ancestors, meaning hominins in warm climates where we evolve, and look where and how much protein they get in their diets we will realize that hominins did not have a diet that was focused on protein, only Neanderthals did in the far North due to the climate. However, for us, it is a completely different story.
Before technology allowed humans to go above 40 parallel what do you think how much protein did we eat on a regular basis?
The short answer would be around 10 to 20 grams on average in a day. And all or at least 97% of the protein was plant-based and around 3% from animal origin.
Anthropological evidence shows that for most of the hominin evolution protein was never consumed in the amount that we have today. And all of the hominin species were vegan and all of the primates were as well. So how we can thrive on low-level and low-quality protein sources?
What happens is that we have a reserve of amino acids and when we eat protein it gets digested into individual amines that would be stored in that reserve. What we need is to eat different types of plant-based species with different amino acid profiles and our body will create a complete protein. We create complete protein in our body so you don’t have to eat copulate protein outside of your body whatsoever, just a couple of different plants and that is it.
For most of our evolution and this is around 50 million years our diet was pretty close to the diet of today’s living primates. The protein requirements in the diet were at the level that by today’s standards would be considered severely inadequate, but only in media. When you talk to real scientists that know about autophagy they will say to you that even that number is more than enough. Because most of the keto paleo bodybuilder type of people and average people, in general, lack a scientific background they are mostly manipulated. I will say that almost all people that think that they need protein in their diet never hear the word autophagy.
The way our body works is that because there is scarcity in nature we have evolved to save everything that can be saved. Every single thing that we can save will have a dramatic influence on our chance for survival in the world without technology that has lasted for more than 50 million years of our evolution. The same thing is with protein.
Our body saves protein. It is the process of autophagy.
What this means is that you eat yourself every day. Every cell in our body is made out of protein and when cells die they will be recycled. And this is not the same as fake recycling like plastic but real recycling that is 100 percent efficient. Auto means self and phagy means eating. We eat ourselves every day.
The only cells that we lose physically are the cells that would not be recycled and these include hair and nails and skin that physically leave our body. Everything else is recycled.
And this is a big truth that somehow most nutritionists and doctors and the entire supplement market and industry conveniently forget.
We don’t need protein to live. We recycle protein. We need to replace the protein that has left our body in a form of dead skin, hair, and nails. That is a couple of grams in one day.
That is the truth.
We have adapted to save amino acids and we have adapted to use protein recycling in a time of constant scarcity but what we have today is an environment that is not congruent with our physiology and when we overeat on protein-rich foods on a constant basis it would have severe implication on our health.
Excessive protein would create excessive hormonal signaling in a form of IGF-1 and mTOR and would stop autophagy. This would lead to the accumulation of demerged cells in time and the development of mutations. This is correlated not just with cancer but with a wide range of diseases. In the past scarcity forced our hominin ancestors to fast but what we have today is just a cancer epidemic.
If we look at statistical data from medicine in the developed world what would we find? The real truth is that throughout the entire medical practice history so far there were very few almost negligible cases of protein deficiency. There are millions of people dying from calorie deficiency meaning regular hunger but protein deficiency just by itself with enough other calories consumed no. Does not exist. There is only a case in veterinary practice when they feed cows with corn that lack one specific amino acid. There is 0.02 g amount of Tryptophan (Trp) standard amino acid in 100 g, grams portion amount of Corn, and corn is not regular cow food so low levels of Tryptophan in cattle diet can make them restless because the brain is using Tryptophan to make serotonin, a happiness hormone. A corn diet is a diet that will make cattle “depressed.” That is the only case of amino acid deficiency with adequate amounts of caloric intake that I know about.
This entire story about lacking amino acids and completeness is just a marketing myth, and I am not kidding. It started in the February 75 issue of Vogue magazine where some paid scientists made a recommendation that combining different plant proteins can create a complete one that our bodies need.
The “Complementary proteins“ myth was born and is still well alive and kicking. So what now, you still think plant proteins are not as good, and you need to eat complete protein from animal sources or at least do “complementary proteins“ combining?
Our own bodies evolved not to be stupid. We have a reserve pool of all essential amino acids disregarding almost 90 grams of proteins that our bodies recycle every day. Even if you want to do a study to design a diet from whole plant foods that will be sufficient in calories but insufficient in protein it would be scientifically impossible to do so. We can survive just eating rice or potatoes and nothing else indefinitely. For potatoes, an example would be Ireland before the potato famine where there is a single crop that managed to sustain the entire nation, and for rice entire Asian continent.
There might be some other nutrition deficit but protein or any particular amino acid no. Even carrot juice has 2 percent of protein making it sufficient for survival.
What you need to do is forget about protein. Forget that it exists. It is just a marketing scam, basically, that is what it is. You will never be deficient in protein even if you are on a fruitarian diet even if you want to design the diet to be protein deficient it is almost impossible. We and almost half of the planet until recently ate nothing but rice and had never been protein deficient.
The is no protein deficiency in the undeveloped world where the diet is still vegan diet dominated by starch. There is not much protein by modern standards in rice. Or how about this? Every human civilization from down of time or in more scientific terminology, from the Neolithic revolution to the time of the discovery of synthetic fertilizer 70 years ago was thriving on a starch-based “low protein” vegan diet. All of the human civilization for entire human history.
Still, do you think protein is important?
Ok, what will happen if you don’t eat protein in any form for an entire year at all? Would you develop Kwashiorkor?
We have obligatory 25 grams we need, that is what conventional medical science is telling us now. This is excessive but for most people, even this excessive number is extremely low and would actually cause something I like to call protein anxiety.
What would happen if we do not eat protein at all for an entire year, not one gram of it?
By the way, 100 grams of tissue is not 100 grams of protein, it is about 22 to 25. The rest of it is water and fat. If you do not eat protein for a month and do water fasting would you lose normal tissue besides fat as conventional medical science seems to propose?
And the answer is no.
You will only lose fat and some amino acids or muscle mass initially. And now I know I am going against the entire western civilization so let us remember one study I already mention in part 1 of the book series. There was a case of a morbidly obese 27-year-old Scottish man named Angus Barbieri who water fasted for an entire year under medical supervision study (Stewart et al., 1973). He was given vitamin supplements daily. No calories, no protein. From day 93 to day 162, he was given potassium and from day 345 to day 355 only he was given 2,5 g of table salt daily. No other drug treatment was given.
However, wait where is the protein?
Where are the obligatory 25 grams of it? The patient lost 276 pounds during his 382 days of dieting but wait how is he still alive? According to medical science obligatory protein is a must. How many pounds of muscle tissue did he lose if 25 grams of obligatory protein is 100 grams of normal tissue? Did the patient develop Kwashiorkor?
Well, he did not lose muscle or tissue.
He just lost fat, and the protein got recycled for an entire year. He might have lost some of the muscle, but that is it. So let me ask again.
How much protein do we need to eat to live? How about the quality or completeness of the protein?
The more likely we will suffer from an excess protein that can cause a wide range of problems from increased cancer risk, precipitated progression of coronary artery disease, disorders of liver function, disorders of renal function, and disorders of bone and calcium homeostasis (Delimaris, 2013). The best thing to do is I will write this again, forget that you have ever heard the word protein.
Start thinking mineral deficiencies, start thinking fiber, start thinking antioxidant deficiencies.
Green leafy vegetables are not considered a good source of protein by whom? The cattle industry.
What about minerals? Do green leafy vegetables have abundant minerals so that we do not need to develop special mechanisms to try to absorb them actively? We have shifted our diet, and that is exactly what we can see in the average population. An overabundance of cancer-promoting and toxifying proteins and deficiency in minerals and fiber in around 97 percent of the American population. Too much protein, too little minerals, phytochemicals, and fiber because in the past and what I mean 50 million years of hominin evolution, our diet was 97 percent plant-based and 3 percent animal-based.
References:
- Lunn, P. G., Morley, C. J., & Neale, G. (1998). A case of kwashiorkor in the UK. Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland), 17(3), 131–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0261-5614(98)80007-1
- Fulgoni, V. L. (2008). Current protein intake in America: Analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2003–2004. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87(5), 1554S-1557S. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/87.5.1554S
- Stewart, W. K., & Fleming, L. W. (1973). Features of a successful therapeutic fast of 382 days’ duration. Postgraduate medical journal, 49(569), 203–209. https://doi.org/10.1136/pgmj.49.569.203
- Delimaris I. (2013). Adverse Effects Associated with Protein Intake above the Recommended Dietary Allowance for Adults. ISRN nutrition, 2013, 126929. https://doi.org/10.5402/2013/126929
Related Posts
Do you have any questions about nutrition and health?
I would love to hear from you and answer them in my next post. I appreciate your input and opinion and I look forward to hearing from you soon. I also invite you to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for more diet, nutrition, and health content. You can leave a comment there and connect with other health enthusiasts, share your tips and experiences, and get support and encouragement from our team and community.
I hope that this post was informative and enjoyable for you and that you are prepared to apply the insights you learned. If you found this post helpful, please share it with your friends and family who might also benefit from it. You never know who might need some guidance and support on their health journey.
– You Might Also Like –
Learn About Nutrition
Milos Pokimica is a doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, medical health and nutrition writer, and nutritional science advisor. Author of the book series Go Vegan? Review of Science, he also operates the natural health website GoVeganWay.com
Medical Disclaimer
GoVeganWay.com brings you reviews of the latest nutrition and health-related research. The information provided represents the personal opinion of the author and is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information provided is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.NEVER DISREGARD PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY SEEKING MEDICAL TREATMENT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ ON OR ACCESSED THROUGH GoVeganWay.com
NEVER APPLY ANY LIFESTYLE CHANGES OR ANY CHANGES AT ALL AS A CONSEQUENCE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ IN GoVeganWay.com BEFORE CONSULTING LICENCED MEDICAL PRACTITIONER.
In the event of a medical emergency, call a doctor or 911 immediately. GoVeganWay.com does not recommend or endorse any specific groups, organizations, tests, physicians, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned inside.
Editor Picks –
Milos Pokimica is a doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, medical health and nutrition writer, and nutritional science advisor. Author of the book series Go Vegan? Review of Science, he also operates the natural health website GoVeganWay.com
Latest Articles –
Plant Based News
-
The ‘King’ Of Carnivore Diet Admits He Doesn’t Know The Long-Term Effects
on February 26, 2024
-
Company Unveils ‘Revolutionary’ Machine That Makes Vegan Egg Yolks
on February 26, 2024
-
30 Vegan Weeknight Dinner Ideas
on February 26, 2024
-
Vegan Guide To ‘Palworld’ Released Following PETA Comments
on February 24, 2024
-
Using Mushrooms As Meat: The Ultimate Guide
on February 23, 2024
-
What Are The Best US States For Vegans?
on February 23, 2024
-
Try This Easy Gnocchi, Aubergine, And Chickpea Traybake
on February 23, 2024
Top Health News — ScienceDaily
- Drug limits dangerous reactions to allergy-triggering foods, Stanford Medicine-led study of kids findson February 26, 2024
A drug that binds to allergy-causing antibodies can protect children from dangerous reactions to accidentally eating allergy-triggering foods, a new study found.
- Hearing relaxing words in your sleep slows your heart downon February 23, 2024
Researchers have investigated whether the body is truly disconnected from the external world during sleep. To do so, they focused on how heartbeat changes when we hear different words during sleep. They found that relaxing words slowed down cardiac activity as a reflection of deeper sleep and in comparison to neutral words that did not have such a slowing effect. This discovery sheds new light on brain-heart interactions during sleep.
- Climate change linked to rise in mental distress among teens, according to Drexel studyon February 23, 2024
Worsening human-induced climate change may have effects beyond the widely reported rising sea levels, higher temperatures, and impacts on food supply and migration — and may also extend to influencing mental distress among high schoolers in the United States.
- Similarities and differences in human and insect vision formationon February 23, 2024
Researchers have discovered profound similarities and surprising differences between humans and insects in the production of the critical light-absorbing molecule of the retina, 11-cis-retinal, also known as the ‘visual chromophore.’ The findings deepen understanding of how mutations in the RPE65 enzyme cause retinal diseases, especially Leber congenital amaurosis, a devastating childhood blinding disease.
- New insights into immune system role in lung cancer riskon February 23, 2024
Recent developments in cancer research have highlighted the vital role of the immune system, particularly in the notable successes of cancer immunotherapy. Now, a paradigm-shifting study sheds light on how variations in immune genetics influence lung cancer risk, potentially paving the way for enhanced prevention strategies and screening.
- Chemists synthesize unique anticancer molecules using novel approachon February 23, 2024
Nearly 30 years ago, scientists discovered a unique class of anticancer molecules in a family of bryozoans, a phylum of marine invertebrates found in tropical waters. The chemical structures of these molecules, which consist of a dense, highly complex knot of oxidized rings and nitrogen atoms, has attracted the interest of organic chemists worldwide, who aimed to recreate these structures from scratch in the laboratory. However, despite considerable effort, it has remained an elusive task. […]
- Metabolic diseases may be driven by gut microbiome, loss of ovarian hormoneson February 22, 2024
Mice that received fecal implants from donors that had their ovaries removed gained more fat mass and had greater expression of liver genes associated with inflammation, Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and atherosclerosis. The findings may shed light on the greater incidence of metabolic dysfunction in postmenopausal women.
PubMed, #vegan-diet –
- A Plant-Based Cholesterol-Lowering Diet Score Correlates with Serum LDL-Cholesterol Levelson February 24, 2024
BACKGROUND: A cholesterol-lowering diet score was previously developed for epidemiological studies; its association with serum lipid profile was not confirmed yet.
- Plant-Based Alternatives Need Not Be Inferior: Findings from a Sensory and Consumer Research Case Study with Cream Cheeseon February 24, 2024
Reliance on animal foods must be reduced to improve planetary and human well-being. This research studied plant-based cheese alternatives (PBCA) relative to dairy cheese in a consumer taste test with 157 consumers in New Zealand. A case study approach used cream cheese (commercially available) as the focal product category (2 PBCA, 2 dairy) and implemented a multi-response paradigm (hedonic, sensory, emotional, conceptual, situational). “Beyond liking” insights were established, including…
- Profiles of Serum Fatty Acids in Healthy Women on Different Types of Vegetarian Dietson February 24, 2024
CONCLUSION: The analysis of serum FAs and CRP levels in vegetarians and vegans suggests that factors other than diet alone influence inflammation and overall health status. Further research on long-term plant-based diet users is needed to better understand this issue, and supplementation with EPA and DHA is worth considering in vegans and vegetarians.
- Dietary Patterns and Fertilityon February 23, 2024
Diet has a key role in the reproductive axis both in males and females. This review aims to analyze the impacts of different dietary patterns on fertility. It appears that the Mediterranean diet has a predominantly protective role against infertility, while the Western diet seems to be a risk factor for infertility. Moreover, we focus attention also on dietary patterns in different countries of the World (Middle Eastern diet, Asian diet). In particular, when analyzing single nutrients, a diet…
- The various facets of orthorexic eating behavior: five case reports of individuals with supposed orthorexia nervosaon February 21, 2024
CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that orthorexia nervosa manifests itself in very different ways and that more research is needed in order to determine whether it could be a useful additional category of disordered eating behavior.
Random Posts –
Featured Posts –
Latest from PubMed, #plant-based diet –
- Prevalence and determinants of self-reported low-fat-, low-salt-, and vegetarian diets in patients with cardiovascular disease between 1996 and 2019by L L F Hoes on February 25, 2024
CONCLUSION: In the period 1996 to 2019 amongst patients with ASCVD, the prevalence of self-reported low-fat diets was low and decreased in line with changes in recommendations in major guidelines. The prevalence of self-reported vegetarian diets was low but increased in line with societal and guideline changes. The prevalence of self-reported low-salt diets was low, especially in CeVD and PAD/AAA patients compared to CAD patients, and decreased over time. Renewed action is needed to promote…
- The role of farming and fishing in the rise of social complexity in the Central Andes: a stable isotope perspectiveby Luis Pezo-Lanfranco on February 25, 2024
For many years, the rise of stratified societies along the Central Andean coast, known as the birthplace of Andean civilization, has been closely linked to a marine-oriented economy. This hypothesis has recently been challenged by increasing evidence of plant management and cultivation among Andean populations long before the emergence of complex societies and monumental architecture. The extent to which marine and plant-based economies were integrated and their contributions to early […]
- Impact of Using Oilseed Industry Byproducts Rich in Linoleic and Alpha-Linolenic Acid in Ruminant Nutrition on Milk Production and Milk Fatty Acid Profileby Bojana Kokić on February 24, 2024
Milk contains more than 400 different fatty acids, some of which play a positive role in promoting human health. The profile of fatty acids in milk can be enhanced by providing animals with plant-based resources that possess feeding characteristics adequate for favorable changes in the fatty acid composition and increasing healthy fatty acids in milk. This review summarizes the available 41 research studies on the utilization of oilseed industry byproducts rich in linoleic acid (hemp, […]
- Unveiling the Impact of Rapeseed Meal on Feeding Behavior and Anorexigenic Endocrine in Litopenaeus vannameiby Bo Zhou on February 24, 2024
Litopenaeus vannamei, with high plant protein acceptance and high global aquaculture production, is a potential species for rapeseed meal application. However, rapeseed meal has been associated with anorexia in fish, and whether the same occurs in L. vannamei remains unknown. This study demonstrated the effects of rapeseed meal on the feeding and anorexigenic endocrine of L. vannamei based on feeding behavior and transcriptomics. Soybean meal was replaced with fermented rapeseed meal (50%), […]
- Assessment of Full-Fat Tenebrio molitor as Feed Ingredient for Solea senegalensis: Effects on Growth Performance and Lipid Profileby Ismael Hachero-Cruzado on February 24, 2024
Tenebrio molitor (TM) is considered as one of the most promising protein sources for replacing fish meal in aquafeeds, among other things because it is rich in protein, a good source of micronutrients and has a low carbon footprint and land use. However, the main drawback of TM is its fatty acid profile, in particular its low content of n-3 PUFA. This study evaluates the effects of partially replacing plant or marine-derived with full-fat TM meal at two different levels on growth performance […]
- Drought-Adapted Mediterranean Diet Plants: A Source of Bioactive Molecules Able to Give Nutrigenomic Effects per se or to Obtain Functional Foodsby Silvia La Scala on February 24, 2024
The Mediterranean diet features plant-based foods renowned for their health benefits derived from bioactive compounds. This review aims to provide an overview of the bioactive molecules present in some representative Mediterranean diet plants, examining their human nutrigenomic effects and health benefits as well as the environmental advantages and sustainability derived from their cultivation. Additionally, it explores the facilitation of producing fortified foods aided by soil and plant…