Sulagna Bandyopadhyay ¹, Anura V. Kurpad ¹

Affiliations
1 St. John's Acadamy of Health Sciences, A recongnized Research Centre of University of Mysore, Division of Nutrition, St. John's Research Institute, Bengaluru, IN

Abstract

A prevalence of 18% Low Birth Weight (LBW), 38% stunting in <5y children, and 18% sarcopenia in adults have been recently reported in India. These could partly be due to a poor-quality protein intake, which could support positive birth outcomes, linear growth in children and maintenance of the adult skeletal muscle mass with appropriate exercise. Quality protein is a highly digestible protein with adequate quantity of Indispensable Amino Acids (IAA). The measurement of risk of deficient quality protein intake requires knowledge of IAA requirements and their digestibility from different food proteins. The present analyses, using dietary intake data of different age groups from the latest National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau rural survey, showed that the protein quality of rural Indian diets was suboptimal and had considerable impact on the risk of quality protein deficiency, which varied from 14 to 80% among different age groups. Modest additions of animal source foods (such as milk and egg) could alleviate the risk of quality protein deficiency in the population. Dietary protein quality should be considered while evaluating dietary interventions and framing the policy of supplementary nutrition programs for vulnerable populations.

Keywords

Dietary Protein, Amino Acids, Protein Quality, Stunting, Under Nutrition, Low Birth Weight, Animal Source Foods.

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Sulagna Bandyopadhyay ¹, Rebecca Kuriyan ¹, Anura V. Kurpad ¹

Affiliations
1 Division of Nutrition, St. John’s Research Institute, St. John’s Academy of Health Sciences, A Recognized Research Centre of University of Mysore, Bengaluru, IN

Abstract

The recent Food and Agricultural Organization / World Health Organization United Nations University expert consultations on protein quality have emphasized the need for protein digestibility measurements in humans. The standard in vivo oro-ileal protein digestibility measurements are invasive, expensive, time-consuming and burdensome on participants. The in vitro multi-enzyme based assays have been a promising tool for rapid, non-invasive and cost-effective protein digestibility measurements in foods. The digestibility estimates obtained from these methods have not been compared with true ileal digestibility measurements in humans. This study measured in vitro protein digestibility in selected commonly consumed plant and animal proteins, assessed the effect of heat-treatment on protein digestibility and compared the digestibility estimates with previously published human true ileal protein digestibility values. The in vitro protein digestibility in the raw plant proteins ranged from 35% in pigeon pea to 72% in rice. Cooking improved digestibility by 8% in potato to 26% in pigeon pea. The in vitro protein digestibility in freeze dried and spray dried milk powder were €85% which reduced to 73% after heat-treatment at 120°C for 40 minutes. The mean difference between the in vitro protein digestibility coefficients and the true ileal protein digestibility estimates was 4.3% (95% CI:-1.05, 9.74%). Although, the in vitro assays can be used as useful tools to predict ileal digestibility in humans, and to rank food proteins according to their digestibility, further studies are warranted for inter-laboratory validation of assays with appropriate evaluation on same protein sources against true ileal digestibility measured in humans.

Keywords

In vitro Protein Digestibility, Protein Quality, Plant Protein, Legume, Rice, Milk, Heat-Treatment, True Ileal Protein Digestibility.

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