Protein Sources in Vegetarian Food

Most vegetarian food includes a considerable amount of protein, but vegetarains often do not absorb as much as they would with a nonvegetarian diet. Plant proteins are much less digestible than animal proteins, because plant amino acid chains that are closer or identical to human amino acid chains.

Consuming animal proteins might yield close to a 1:1 absorption ratio, while plant proteins in vegetarian food, such as wheat, might only yield 50% of the amino acids needed to build a "complete protein" or a protein which can be more readily assimilated into the human body.

In order to absorb a more healthy amount of protein from vegetarian type food, vegetarians must consume a variety of plant proteins to form complete amino chains. Eating a variety of vegetables, legumes, seeds, nuts, fruits, and whole grains, vegetarians can increase the amount of complete proteins they create from combined varieties of amino acid chains.

Vegetarians must also consume a larger amount of plant food containing protein because plant proteins are usually harder to digest. While a nutritional label may suggest that pasta has 5 grams of protein per serving; you may only be able to digest 2-3 grams of that protein, in which case you must complement the pasta with other sources of protein.

Along with natural sources of protein, vegetarians should also seek vegetarian food that is artificially-infused with protein or "protein-fortified".

As an example, many supermarkets offer a variety of vegetarian food such as "protein-fortified" pasta and bread, which may contain as much as 12 grams of protein per serving.

Soy milk is a great source of protein for vegetarians. Studies have shown that soy protein can be absorbed nearly as well as animal protein, with close to a 1:1 protein absorption ratio.

For non-vegan vegetarians, yogurt, milk, and eggs (which contain complete proteins) are excellent sources of protein.

Vegetarians have many options to boost their protein intake - and you should consider taking advantage of them all. Diversify your vegetarian food selections, drink more soy products, and eat "protein-fortified" breads and pasta.