[Assessment of protein quality in foods by calculating the amino acids score corrected by digestibility]

The protein score reflects its amino acids (AA) content in comparison with the ideal protein. However, when there is a need to know the use of AA by the organism it is necessary to do a correction of the score value by protein digestibility (PDCAAS). Since this information is not available for usually consumed foods, the present work aimed at calculating the PDCAAS values of these foods. The score was calculated the limiting AA of 70 foods, taking as reference protein the AA pattern for children > 1 year old and adults proposed by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences for the year 2002. The PDCAAS value was obtained in each case by multiplying the score value by the digestibility index. For vegetable foods the obtained score values and PDCAAS were, respectively: vegetables 88.5% / 73.4%, tubercles 89.44% / 74.24%, fresh fruits 75.6% / 64.3%, dried fruits 65.6% / 48.1%, legumes in general 89.2% / 69.58%, chickpea and soybean 100% / 78%, cereals and derivatives 68.8% / 58.5%. Creation of table that contents the score values, digestibility values, and PDCAAS of foods is a useful tool when food selection for a dietary plan based on its protein quality is desirable.