Revisiting Protein Quality Assessment to Include Alternative Proteins

Area of Science:

• Nutritional Science
• Biochemistry
• Physiology

Background:

• Growing demand for sustainable protein sources (legumes, insects, algae, cultured meat) necessitates re-evaluating protein quality assessment.
• Conventional methods like protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) and digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS) have limitations for novel and plant-based proteins.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a sensitive preclinical model for assessing the quality and bioavailability of diverse protein sources.
• To evaluate the efficacy of conventional protein assessment scores (PDCAAS, DIAAS) against a physiological growth model.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a preclinical model based on postnatal growth, a key indicator of development and health.
• Compared growth performance of animals fed various protein sources at adequate and restricted (10% of calories) intake levels.

Main Results:

• Most alternative proteins performed comparably to casein (animal source) when provided at adequate dietary levels.
• Under protein restriction, all alternative sources failed to support normal growth.
• No correlation was observed between growth performance in the preclinical model and PDCAAS/DIAAS values from literature.

Conclusions:

• The postnatal growth model offers a sensitive approach to evaluate protein quality for diverse sources.
• Conventional protein assessment scores (PDCAAS, DIAAS) demonstrate significant limitations in reflecting true protein bioavailability and growth impact, especially for alternative proteins.