Briefly describe and provide an example of protein complimentarity.

Protein Complementarity is the concept that we needed to eat “complementary” proteins, such as rice and beans, to compensate for protein deficiencies in food.

Explanation:

Proteins contain essential amino acids, which means our bodies cannot make them and so we need to get them through food. All essential amino acids come from plants and microbes, so all plant proteins have all essential amino acids. The only truly “incomplete” protein is gelatin for lack of tryptophan.

However it is true that some plant proteins have low levels of certain amino acids, but that is not to say that they do not have them! Even so, about 40 years ago the myth of protein complementarity was born in Vogue magazine, the concept of which was that we needed to eat “complementary” proteins, such as rice and beans, to compensate for protein deficiencies in vegetables.