Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Protein quality, efficacy of nutrition interventions

21^st Euro-Global Summit on Food and Beverages

March 08-10, 2018 | Berlin, Germany

Minah M Mosele and Tiyapo C Mongwaketse

National Food Technology Research Centre, Botswana

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

The building blocks of proteins are amino acids, which will differ on the basis of whether the protein is from an animal or plant source. The amino acids are absorbed differently within the human body. However plant proteins have limited amino acids, which when complimented, may perform similar functions like animal proteins. The existence of anti-nutritional factors such as trypsin inhibitors, lectins, and tannins threaten the quality of plant proteins. There are also health concerns of eating animal based proteins. It has been seen over the years that protein quantity is no longer the issue, but quality as well. A threat to nutrition interventions is breeding, especially Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) as in the case of soya bean, which is one of the leading supplement for protein in nutrition interventions. This has led to seeking other plant protein alternatives such as peas and cowpeas which are abundant in some of the developing countries. The quality of protein is important when considering the benefit envisaged. To monitor efficacy of any nutrition intervention, especially in addressing Protein-Energy Malnutrition (PEM), a holistic approach is necessary to ensure that the protein in the intended food is available. There is information gap regarding the availability and utilization of protein sources in interventions. Therefore when PEM nutritional interventions are not successful, most times it is very difficult to analyze the root cause effectively. Measuring the total crude protein content, its digestibility and amino acid profile is no longer enough to pre-determine the efficacy of any nutritional intervention. There is a need to develop a method to regulate protein quality in foods especially those for nutrition interventions. minah@naftec.org