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Whole plant protein works against you
Built-in handicaps
The protein in whole plant foods arrives with carbohydrate or fat, so reaching a protein target can push calories over budget. It is also a less bioavailable form of protein, and it tends to carry less leucine, fewer branched-chain amino acids, and fewer essential amino acids.
Isolated proteins
Isolated proteins get around much of that. Soy is a complete protein, and a recent meta-analysis found that using it once or twice a day didn't appear to affect testosterone or estrogen. Isolated potato protein has an essential amino acid content similar to whey, though it is hard to find. Corn protein is about 12 percent leucine and short on some other amino acids, so blending it with soy and pea creates a complementary mix.
Muscle on plants
Plant-based people have built impressive amounts of muscle, and quite a few bodybuilders are plant-based. Cooking can also raise bioavailability by breaking some of the bonds in plant material.
Why does leucine content differ between proteins?
Amino acid makeup follows the genes of the organism that made the protein, and plants make proteins for their own needs, such as seed storage. Zein, the main storage protein of corn, is rich in leucine but almost entirely lacks lysine and tryptophan. That is why one plant protein can score high on leucine and still fall short on other essential amino acids. Blending sources with different profiles evens out the mix.
How does cooking raise plant protein bioavailability?
Heat unfolds proteins, which gives digestive enzymes easier access to the amino acid chains. It also inactivates antinutrients, compounds in plants that interfere with digestion. Raw soybeans contain trypsin inhibitors that block the enzyme trypsin, and heat largely destroys them.
How do blended plant proteins fill each other's gaps?
Each plant protein tends to be short on different amino acids. Pea protein is rich in lysine but low in methionine, while rice protein is the reverse. Combining them gives a mix closer to a complete amino acid profile. Soy is unusual among plants because it covers the essential amino acids on its own.
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