About this Resource
Different sources of dietary protein can be compared based on the amount of total protein they contain and their overall protein quality. Several measures have been designed to assess protein quality, with the more modern scales ranking different foods on two key factors: digestibility and essential amino acid composition. Here we highlight two commonly used measures and discuss their potential limitations.
Grounded in the Research
“Quality of the dietary protein in foods rather than amount of dietary protein may be of greater importance from a human health and wellness standpoint. … Protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) and digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS) are the two major protein standards used to determine the completeness of proteins by their unique concentration and digestibility of indispensable amino acids.”
Excerpt from: Huang, S., Wang, L. M., Sivendiran, T., & Bohrer, B. M. (2018). Amino acid concentration of high protein food products and an overview of the current methods used to determine protein quality. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition, 58(15), 2673-2678.
References
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