We have heard over and over that chicken, beef, eggs, and fish are better than beans for muscle building because plant products like beans. We are told that plant based protein is “not a complete protein” except in rare cases like Quinoa, and that is still inferior. WHY? Lets take a look at the amino acid profile of black beans vs chicken, the chart from that page is reproduced here:
Look at the data. The profile of the essential amino acids looks remarkable similar to me. The biggest difference is that beans have about 25% less lysine than chicken but all other amino acids are pretty close. Is the body SO picky about precise amino acid ratios? Is there some other factor about protein quality I am missing here? I believe that chicken IS better for muscle building than beans but this chart does not seem to explain why that is true.
Who is a nutritionist or biochemist and can explain this???
I am an engineer, not a biochemist. Someone please explain this to me because I need to understand. I want to make my protein quality visualizer tool better but I’m not sure how. I also want to make a tool that combines plant proteins in an optimal way to approximate the benefits of meats but if there is some other factor than amino acid levels that is important I obviously need to know that. Please school Scooby!