Evaluation of biological quality of protein concentrates from different vegetable protein sources

The quality of protein concentrates coming from conventional and non-conventional vegetable sources was evaluated. The protein quality was assessed by the multi-point assay RPV. Whole body weight gain, weight gain corrected for the gastrointestinal content (G.I.), total body nitrogen and total liver nitrogen were used as response parameters. The various protein sources ranked differently depending upon the response parameters utilized, but a great majority of the sources had a good nutritional value (over 0.5). The gastrointestinal content is one of the principal factors responsible for the differences found. However, even after correcting for the G.I. content, some differences remained. For the various protein sources, the nitrogen deposition in the liver correlates satisfactorily with the whole body nitrogen deposition, if in the calculation of the regression line, the data for faba bean and tobacco were omitted (respectivelyr=0.610 andr=0.925). On the whole, these data indicate that most plant protein concentrates in suitable combinations and properly processed, may become a promising alternative to animal proteins.