b.williams wrote:
> I hope someone on here can answer this question:
>
> I eat 2 tablespoons of peanut butter with 2 slices of bread.
>
> The nutrition panel for peanut butter says 2 tablespoons equals 8
> grams of protein. The nutrition panel for bread says 1 slice is 3
> grams, so 2 slices is 6 grams of protein.
>
> How many grams of "complete" protein am I getting??
>
> Thanks -
>

It doesn't really work like you think, unless you eat nothing
but peanut butter sandwiches all day.

If that were the case, your 13 g of protein would net
..55(13g) because the limiting amino acid is lysine, at
55% of optimal. => 7.15 g for 335 calories.

If instead, you opted for 3 oz of 75% lean ground beef,
the 21 g would be limited to .37(21g) because the limiting
amino acid is tryptophan, at 37% of optimal. =>7.77 g
for 216 calories. So much for being a "complete" protein.

But, if you ate both of them in the same day (and nothing
else) you would net .61(34g). => 20.74 g for 551 calories.

Or, you could eat 100 g sprouted kidney beans, 1 cup cooked
collards, 1 cup mushrooms, and 1 tb flax seed for 157 calories
and 0.73(13 g). = 9.49 g net protein.. If you decided to eat 551
calories worth of this combination and nothing else all day, you
would get 33.3 g useable protein. This is more than a 60%
increase in net protein than the case above.

You can see the amino acid profiles of foods in the USDA
nutrient database or http://www.nutritiondata.com. There
are also search tools to help you find foods highest in a particular
amino acid.

It's always a good idea to incorporate a wide variety of foods
in your diet. If you include a number of different vegetables
(wtth emphasis on leaves), legumes, nuts, seeds, and soaked
or sprouted grains, you will be getting plenty. For some of
the "conditionally" essential amino acids such as taurine and
arginine, however, there might be a different story.