The subject of protein has received a great deal of attention in the past one hundred years. Two early investigators, Liebig and Voit, thought that protein was used by the body for energy, therefore the harder one worked the more protein he required. It has now been shown that the protein requirement remains quite constant and is not increased with more activity.
Volt's recommended intake of protein at the level of 118 grams a day was not based on any scientific nutritional research but merely on a survey done on a group of German miners. He found that on an average, they consumed 118 grams a day, and he concluded this must be their requirement.
Since the days of Liebig and Voit, much scientific research has been done in this field, and the conclusions are that one can get along on a much lower protein intake than was at first thought possible. However, it has been rather difficult to erase the influence of these early workers.
Hindhede, a Danish physician, is quoted as saying: "No one can deny that Liebig and Voit were great investigators, but the errors of great men are a hundred times more dangerous than the nonsense of the multitude. Thus the attitude in favor of meat has been disseminated throughout the world." '
When man was created, God gave him the best food possible for the maintenance of health. There is a wide distribution of protein in all natural foods—fruits having the lowest percentages. Foods that are completely lacking in protein are products of our own modern civilization, such as sugar, fats, and products made from these items. White flour is lower in quantity and quality of protein than whole-grain flour, and refined breakfast foods that have had the bran and/or the germ removed are also of an inferior quality. If these protein-free, or low-protein foods, are replaced by a variety of natural foods (which God gave to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden), there should be no problem in obtaining an adequate protein intake.
How many grams of protein are required by the average man or woman? The recommended allowance (National Research Council) is 70 grams a day for a man and 58 for a woman. However, these allow for liberal margins of safety.
In 1946, investigators at several universities reported the minimum requirement to be about 30 grams a day, and it made no difference whether the protein came from vegetable sources, or a combination of vegetable and animal protein.' Since then Dr. W. C. Rose, of the University of Illinois, has done brilliant work in the field of protein research and has become famous for his work with the amino acids requirements. He concluded that the protein needed for an adult man was less than 25 grams a day.'
We would not recommend that one should try to live on such a low protein intake for we should allow for a margin of safety; but let me remind you, it would be difficult indeed to get so little protein when one uses a variety of natural foods.
Dr. Mervyn Hardinge, of the College of Medical Evangelists, who did a series of nutritional studies on vegetarians, found that the average daily protein intake for people living exclusively on a vegetable diet was 83 grams for men and 61 grams for women. On a lacto-ovo-vegetarian (including milk and eggs) diet, the average was 98 grams of protein for men and 82 for women.'
Many surveys done in all parts of the world show that if people get enough calories to take care of their energy needs, they are almost always certain of getting enough protein, even on an exclusive vegetable diet, particularly if the dietary includes a variety of natural grains, nuts, legumes, vegetables, and fruits.
All protein is broken down by the digestive process into amino acids. Some of these amino acids appear to be more important than others. However, they supplement one another in such a way that two foods used together are better as a rule than when used separately.
Let us consider some of the vegetable protein foods, which include nuts, legumes, seeds, cereals, commercial vegetable products (made from a combination of vegetable proteins), and vegetables. The percentage of protein is not high in vegetables, but the quality is very good. Research is emphasizing this point more and more.
Nuts make a valuable contribution from a protein standpoint. They should be used sparingly, however, because of their high fat content. Many people complain that they cannot digest nuts, but I think this is because of the way in which they are sometimes prepared. Many nuts on the market are overroasted in deep fat and heavily salted. They are then eaten between meals as a snack or at the close of a heavy meal. The stomach rebels at the extra load.
Nuts, when used, should be included as part of the meal. Some people will digest them more easily if they are ground fine, or made into nut butters. Nuts should be purchased raw and then may be toasted lightly in the oven before using. Beware of rancid nuts. Better not buy them even at bargain prices if in this state, for it is the fat in the nuts that turns rancid and it may be toxic.
Speaking of tree nuts, Henry Bailey Stevens has this to say: "Here is a product which nature has already packaged wonderfully, encasing it in an individual shell that brings it direct from the tree to the table. It does not have to be refrigerated. It does not even have to be cooked. Best of all, it has a superlative food value.
"Many nuts are also valuable sources of iron and calcium. The almond and filbert supply a larger proportion of iron than does an equal amount of beefsteak and several times the amount of food lime (calcium) supplied by meats of any sort. Tree nuts are so well adapted to human foods as to foster the intimation that they are the most natural protein for the private family." Answering the question about nuts being hard to digest, Stevens flatly says No.
"The research of Osborne, Cojori, and others has shown that such protein is of the finest quality and can be as well utilized as the protein of meats if the nuts are crushed or well chewed. In fact, Tissier, of the Pasteur Institute, found that animal protein is twice as putrefactive as vegetable protein. Nut proteins resemble those of milk so closely that they were long known as vegetable caseins. Furthermore, nut fats are more readily digestible than most animal fats, and are far less likely to decompose in the alimentary tract. Pound for pound, walnuts, almonds, pecans, filberts, and others rate well with leading flesh foods in protein content four to one." 6
Legumes play an important part in the vegetarian menu. The soybean can easily be classified as the king of this food group. The publicity given to it in the last twenty-five years has probably made every reader familiar with its value. It is one of our finest vegetable protein foods. It carries 36 to 40 per cent in the dry bean. It has a good quantity and quality of fat and is low in carbohydrates. Commercial soy milk is also a valuable source of vitamins and minerals. Most wonderful of all, however, is the soybean's versatility. It can be made into flour, meal, milk, cheese, and served in many different ways. Soy milk is an adequate replacement for cow's milk with respect to protein.
All types of seeds have a good protein content. Our most popular ones in this class are sunflower and sesame seeds. The use of both of these has increased considerably in the past few years. They are used equally well in baking, confections, butters, and spreads, and in other protein dishes. Flax seed is another with high nutritional value and we would do well to become better acquainted with it.
Cereals also make a good contribution from the protein standpoint. It has been well established that a variety of cereals give a better protein than wheat used alone. Thus a five- or seven-grain cereal would be better than a wheat cereal. Buckwheat and other cereals are known to have an excellent protein.
There are many commercial products on the market today. Some of them are made from gluten, which is the protein of the wheat after the starch has been washed out. Others are made with a combination of gluten, soybeans, food yeast, and/or other vegetable protein foods. The nutritional value -of these items is determined by the formula used in their manufacture.
Morris B. Jacobs, in Chemistry and Technology of Food and Food Products, volume 1, page 218 says: "In recent years there has been considerable interest in the production of 'meat' substitutes in which wheat gluten containing 60 to 80 per cent protein has been used. While the process of manufacture is not generally known, the wet, or reconstituted wet gluten is denatured by heating in water. It is then sliced or ground and combined with other products, such as specially prepared yeast proteins and vegetable flavoring materials, to produce an edible product having something of the characteristic of soft tissue meats. The palatability of such products necessarily varies with the formula and skill of the manufacturers. If properly formulated, they are highly nutritious."
Some people have the idea that gluten is indigestible. Nothing is further from the truth. Digestibility, according to the scientist, is the percentage of the food that is utilized by the body. When wheat protein (gluten) was compared, at Rutgers University, with five other proteins, including meat, eggs, and casein from milk, it was highest on the list with 98.5 percent digestibility.
In conclusion, we will add a few facts about the protein found in vegetables. These proteins are of excellent quality, and if vegetables are compared on a caloric basis with the so-called high protein foods, the quantity may even be more than that in the protein foods. For example, it would require about a pound of celery to furnish 100 calories. This amount of cel-- ery would furnish approximately 10 grams of protein. But beefsteak (club, broiled) supplying 100 calories would give only 6.7 grams of protein.
One thing to remember about vegetable proteins is that they are all low in fat (except nuts, soybeans, and seeds), and those containing fat are high in the unsaturated fatty acids that are so essential in maintaining health. Animal proteins are nearly all associated with saturated fat, and for this reason many doctors are putting their patients with high blood cholesterol and degenerative heart disease on a vegetarian diet, omitting egg yolks, and all dairy products, except skim milk.
We find some popular health teachers are advocating that protein and carbohydrates (starches) are not to be combined or used in the same meal. As we look over the composition of food we find many of our plant foods contain both protein and starch. If our Creator intended that they were to be used separately, would He have put them together in so many foods?
"God has furnished man with abundant means for the gratification of natural appetite.
He has spread before him, in the products of the earth, a bountiful variety of food that is palatable to the taste and nutritious to the system. Of these our benevolent heavenly Father says that we may 'freely eat.'"
Let us return to the program God originally planned for man in the beginning—a variety of vegetable protein foods. We will find ourselves greatly blessed.
