Evaluation of Amino Acids Bioavailability in a Food Product Based on a Vegetable Protein Combination

Proteins can be classified as high or low biological value proteins depending on their composition in essential amino acids, which are those amino acids that the body cannot synthesize and must be provided through food. In recent years, there has been growing interest in reducing the consumption of proteins of animal origin, leading to the search for more sustainable protein options, such as vegetable proteins. However, vegetable options do not have a complete profile of essential amino acids. In this sense, soy protein is considered the reference vegetable protein because it has an adequate amino acid profile. However, the amount of methionine is considerably lower than that of an animal source, and it also has a considerable allergenic potential. The mixture of two types of complementary vegetable protein sources could serve as a strategy to achieve the profile of essential amino acids like that of an animal protein. The hypothesis of the present study is that the consumption of a mixture of vegetable proteins from legume and cereal sources will complement each other to achieve a bioavailability of essential amino acids equal to or greater than that observed when consuming soy protein.