“In Korea, the average elementary student consumes twice the amount of protein they actually need. In today’s society the question is no longer, do we have enough protein in our diet, but rather, do we have the right balance of proteins?” – Dr. Lee Hong-mi –

Besides meat, vegetables and dairy products also contain protein. Proteins from vegetables are called vegetable proteins while proteins from animals, like dairy products and meat are called animal proteins.

Dr. Lee, a professor of Food Science and Nutrition at Daejin University explains that animal and vegetable proteins both have positive and negative aspects. Animal proteins are called high quality or complete proteins because they have the right combination of molecules called amino acids that our body needs. But the downside to eating meat for the higher quality animal protein is the fact that meat is also high in saturated fats and cholesterol.

So are vegetables the best source of proteins? Not exactly. Although vegetables have a lot of vitamins, minerals, fibers and do not contain saturated fats and cholesterol, vegetable proteins are lower quality proteins. This is because they do not have all the amino acids that the body needs. So how do you balance the good and the bad of animal and vegetable proteins?

Mix it up. Lean red meat, chicken, fish, milk, eggs, and cheese are just some examples of animal protein products. Beans, tofu, spinach and nuts are excellent sources of vegetable proteins. By eating a large variety of vegetables and small portions of different kinds of meat every day, you can balance the negative aspects of each protein with the positive aspects.

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