Vegetarian Protein Complementarity Chart

--from ACE's Essentials of Exercise Science for Fitness Professionals

"Vegetarian diets provide several health advantages.  They are low in saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein and high in fiber, folate, vitamins C and E, carotenoids, and some phytochemicals.  Compared to omnivores, vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, death from cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer. However, if poorly planned, vegetarian diets may include insufficient amounts of protein, iron, vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, and other nutrients (ADA, 2003).

Quality protein intake is crucial for vegetarians.  A main determinant of protein quality is whether a food contains all of the essential amino acids.  Most meat-based products are higher-quality proteins because they have varying amounts of the essential amino acids, while plant proteins other than soy are incomplete proteins because they do not contain all eight to 10 essential amino acids.  However, complementary plant products such as rice and beans together provide all essential amino acids.  Research suggests that most vegetarians consume adequate amounts of complementary plant proteins throughout the day to meet their protein needs.  Thus, the complementary proteins do not need to be consumed in the same meal. (ADA, 2003)."