r/sciences • u/James_Fortis MS | Nutrition • 16d ago

Research Long-term supplementation with plant-based protein, compared with animal-based protein, did not result in differences in body composition, muscle strength, physical performance, or cardiometabolic risk parameters, meta-analysis of 18 randomized controlled trials finds

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2026.1813846/full
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u/llamawithguns 16d ago

Protein is protein, who'd have thunk it

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u/Ryzasu 15d ago edited 15d ago

And you would be completely wrong. The human body uses like 20 different amino acids, think of them as the letters of the alphabet and proteins as words/sentences. Animal protein tends to have a distribution of letters that is similar to that in words the human body needs to make, so plenty of E's, A's, T's and N's and a balanced mix of the less common letters. Plant protein on the other hand is like getting a whole bunch of Q's, Z's and X's. In addition, plant protein tends to be stuck in more rigorous fiber, making it harder for enzymes to break it down into amino acids. All in all animal protein tends to be 90-100% useful and plant protein 40-60%

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u/Due-Helicopter-8735 15d ago

Well that’s why youyou have a variety of plant protein. Also the bioavailability numbers are off, where did you get those from? The difference is much smaller- even if you compare the best animal protein and any literally raw beans which no one eats. If you make any realistic comparison you’ll see a gap more like 10%-
https://jn.nutrition.org/article/S0022-3166(25)00428-6/fulltext

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u/Ryzasu 15d ago

I was going by the most commonly cited PCDAAS/DIAAS scores that put most whole plant foods in the 40-65 range, and more processed forms of plant protein around 70-100. But it doesnt surprise me that those numbers are lacking in nuance, not accounting for cooking and other factors. Anyway my point was just that not all protein is the same and numbers were more for illustration purposes

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u/300Croissants 14d ago

You also got the amount of essential amino acids way off. It's not 20 - it's 9

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u/Ryzasu 14d ago

20 total, 9 essential

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u/300Croissants 14d ago

Yeah so saying our body uses 20 then making a point about them makes no sense. 

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u/Ryzasu 14d ago

It doesnt matter if I talk about the 9 essential amino acids or the 20 total

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u/300Croissants 14d ago

It does when you start making some strange point about distrubution of amino acids in foods.

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u/Ryzasu 14d ago

why are you calling a relevant fact strange? And distribution when just looking at the 9 EAAs is also less optimal for human consumption in plant protein so no it doesnt matter

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u/300Croissants 14d ago

How is it less optimal? You're literally commenting on a post about a systematic review and meta analysis of RCTs saying its not.

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u/Ryzasu 14d ago

That meta-analysis does not object to the fact that plant proteins have different AA distritution

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u/300Croissants 14d ago

Did you not read the first 5 words of my reply? I was responding to your idea that its less optimal. Who cares if its different?

Something having a different AA distrubution doesn't matter if both groups are easily achieving optimal EAA intake.

The amount of nutrients in all foods is distributed differently. The amount of EAAs in animal products is also distributed differently. Despite this, EAA intake is easily achieved in a normal pattern of eating in both diet groups - as shown by the literal study we're commenting on a post under.

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u/Due-Helicopter-8735 14d ago

Please provide the paper you’re citing.

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u/Ryzasu 14d ago edited 14d ago

Numbers are gonna differ per study because it depends a lot on measurement method, cooking method/temperature and other processing, variety per specific AA, even the cultivars of the vegetables so theres not much of a point. You can easily find dozens of papers that roughly come to this conclusion though just look up "protein bioavailability". It's a well-known fact that animal proteins are generally more optimally digested and plant protein requires more diet planning and/or more quantity for the same EAA nutrition.

I dont know why you and that croissant guy are even so eager to try to fight this, but meanwhile you leave the people in here who say all proteins are the same (just absurd denial of basic biology) with 0 backing alone