The difference between complete and incomplete proteins and how much you should be worrying about them in your diet

• Complete proteins contain all nine essential amino acids, whereas incomplete proteins are missing one or more.
• It can be hard to know if you're getting good quality protein in your diet.
• INSIDER found out what the differences are between complete and incomplete proteins .

When it comes to a healthy diet, a lot of emphasis is placed on the quantity of protein in food, but not so much on the quality. The terms "complete" and "incomplete" protein refer to the quality of protein in a food and the types of amino acids it includes.

INSIDER corresponded with Perri Halperin, MS, RD, a dietitian at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, about what these terms mean, and how they should play into your own nutrition.

Proteins are made up of amino acids.

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Amino acids are the units that make up all proteins, and the human body can produce several of them on its own. The rest have to come from diet.

"Of the approximately 20 known amino acids, nine of them—histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine—cannot be made or modified by the body and must come from food," Halperin said.

These nine are called essential amino acids. The rest are called "nonessential" not because they lack importance, Halperin explained, but because the body can produce them or synthesize them from other compounds independently.

 

Animal products tend to be complete proteins.

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Animal products, such as chicken, eggs, dairy, and seafood, tend to be complete proteins made up of all nine essential amino acids, but there are a number of complete proteins that are plant-based as well, including quinoa, buckwheat, and soy. 

Incomplete proteins tend to be plant-based.

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Incomplete proteins tend to be plant-based and are either low, or lacking, in one or more of these amino acids, making the protein imbalanced.

Examples of incomplete protein are rice and vegetables. 

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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