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 To account for these differences, a new standard
for protein quality, the digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS),
was developed by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
about a decade ago. It specifically focuses on the digestibility of
essential amino acids, and aims to put more accurate tools in the
hands of nutritionists and food assistance programs the world over.
A new study from the University of Illinois and Colorado State
University leverages the DIAAS system to understand protein quality
in beef and pork burgers and plant-based burgers from Impossible™
and Beyond Meat®.
The researchers fed pork burgers, 80% and 93% lean beef burgers, the
soy-based Impossible Burger, and pea-based Beyond Burger to pigs,
the FAO’s recommended research subject for DIAAS studies. They then
measured digestibility of individual essential amino acids, and used
those digestibility scores to compute DIAAS values.
Both beef and pork burgers, served without buns, scored as
“excellent” sources of protein (DIAAS scores 100+, for people of all
ages). The Impossible Burger, when served without a bun, also scored
as an excellent protein source for ages 3 and up, but not for
children less than 3 years old. With a value of 83, the bunless
Beyond Burger was a “good” source of protein for ages 3 and up.
“We have previously observed that animal proteins have greater DIAAS
values than plant-based proteins and that is also what we observed
in this experiment,” says Hans H. Stein, professor in the Department
of Animal Sciences and the Division of Nutritional Sciences at
Illinois and co-author on the European Journal of Nutrition study.
Burger patties are typically eaten with a bun, so the researchers
also looked at the protein quality of patties and buns together.
Because grain products, like hamburger buns, offer low protein
quality, feeding the bun and the patties together reduced DIAAS
values.
Consuming the Impossible Burger together with a bun reduced the
DIAAS value to “good” (for ages 3 and up). But when pork or
80% lean beef patties were consumed together with buns, DIAAS values
were still at or above 100 for the over-3 age group, demonstrating
that the needs for all essential amino acids were met by these
combinations. [to top of second
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“There was a greater DIAAS value of mixing either the pork or
beef burger with the bun – values of 107 and 105 respectively, for the over-3
age group – than there was for the Impossible Burger, which had a DIAAS value of
86 if consumed with the bun. That means you need to eat 15% more of the
Impossible Burger- bun combination to get the same amount of digestible amino
acids as if you eat the pork-based or the beef-based burgers. And if you have to
eat more, that means you also get more calories,” says Mahesh Narayanan Nair,
professor at Colorado State University and a co-author of the publication.
Stein says, “It's particularly children, teenagers, lactating women, and older
people who are at risk of not getting enough amino acids. Results of this
experiment, along with previous data, demonstrate the importance of getting
animal-based proteins into diets to provide sufficient quantities of digestible
essential amino acids to these populations.
“This is also really important in developing countries where there may be little
access to animal-based proteins, particularly for children. In some countries, a
majority of children are amino acid deprived. That’s extremely serious because,
if children don't get enough amino acids, their brain development can suffer.
It's especially important in those cases to design a strategy for getting
high-quality proteins into diets for children.”
The article, “Digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS) is greater in
animal‑based burgers than in plant‑based burgers if determined in pigs,” is
published in the European Journal of Nutrition [DOI:
10.1007/s00394-021-02658-1]. Authors include Natalia Fanelli, Hannah Bailey,
Tyler Thompson, Robert Delmore, Mahesh Narayanan Nair, and Hans Stein. Funding
was provided by the Beef Checkoff and the National Pork Checkoff.
The Department of Animal Sciences and the Division of Nutritional Sciences are
in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
[Source: Hans Stein
News writer: Lauren Quinn]
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