Do You Know Your Protein and What It Does For Your Body?

World Wide Web | Do You Know Your Protein and What It Does For Your Body? | You may ask why is protein good for me? Well, protein helps burn fat, helps in immune system function, helps build and support muscle system function in our own body composition, helps speed up metabolism, floods the entire body with almost all of the essential natural amino acids. However, protein is not just for building muscle, it plays an essential role in our body and helps build the nervous system. Protein has plenty of natural occurring vitamins. Essentially B Vitamins. Especially when it comes to lean red meat protein. The B Vitamins play an important role in the body's repair. Hair, skin, nails, nervous system, it helps with one's mood and stress levels. Protein is used by the body to repair, build, and maintain muscle. Protein is made up of many amino acids. However, our body cannot use the protein you ingest unless all of the right amino acids are present. The body itself can only produce some of these amino acids and others called the essential amino acids have to be gained from certain foods we eat. Some foods contain what is called complete protein. These are all the amino acids necessary to produce stable protein synthesis in our body. Examples of these foods are milk, eggs, meats, fish, and some vegetables. Below is a chart of proteins and percentages of what our body uses from them:

FOOD % PROTEIN BY WEIGHT % NET PROTEIN UTILIZATION

• -Soybean Flour--- 42%--------------------------61%
• -Cheese ---- 24-35%--------------------------70%
• -Meat/Chicken/Turkey 19-32%------------------------ -68%
• -Fish---- 18-25%--------------------------80%
• -Eggs---- 12%--------------------------95%
• -Brown Rice---- 8%--------------------------70%
• -Milk---- 4%--------------------------82%

The chart lets us know for example, that an egg contains 12% protein by weight yet, hold on! Because of the specific amino acids present in that protein 94% of it can be used by our body. Therefore the egg is a great source of protein. Soybean Flour is 42% protein. however, the makeup of that protein is such that the body is only able to use 61% of it. So, there is a big difference between how much protein a food contains and how much of that protein the body can actually use to function properly. Eggs are a such great source of high quality protein that they are used as a basis of comparison in rating the protein the quality of other foods, with eggs given an arbitrary value of 100%. Below is another food chart with protein ratings:

FOOD PROTEIN RATINGS

• Eggs 100%
• Fish 70%
• Milk 60%
• Lean Beef 69%
• Soy Milk/Soy Bean 47%
• Dry Beans 34%
• Whole Grain/Wheat 43%
• Brown Rice 57%
• White Rice 56%
• White Potato 34%
• Sweet Potato 30%

As you can see from this list of foods like rice, potatoes and beans give you much less useable protein than eggs or fish because these foods lack one or more of the must needed essential amino acids that cannot satisfy the body's protein needs. You can however combine two or more sources of this low quality protein or "incomplete" protein to obtain high quality "complete" protein. Combining protein in this way is very useful to not only bodybuilders, but for everyone who wants to stay healthy, eating foods that are very low in calorie fat. Also, these complete proteins contain fewer calories than most incomplete protein sources. This can be a great advantage when you are trying to build maximum health.

Article Source: EzineArticles