Jeremiah Farias (00:00.046)
In today’s video, we’ll look at a fairly controversial topic, protein quality, comparing animal -based proteins versus plant -based proteins, and what should we be prioritizing when it comes to improving diabetes or other blood sugar -related issues? We’ll take a look at what the research has to say on the topic. Hi, my name is Jeremiah. I’m a functional registered dietitian, and I help adults suffering from blood sugar dysregulation issues, things like type 2 diabetes, pre -diabetes, or low energy levels.

I hope you enjoy today’s content. In a previous video, we covered how much protein one should be consuming in order to optimize overall health and lean tissue or muscle mass. Both of those components are very important for optimizing or improving blood sugar metabolism. And so the question then that we’ll be answering in this video is which protein sources should we be prioritizing? I’ll go over three criteria that need to be considered.

when establishing a protein’s quality. So the first criteria is the amount and profile of essential amino acids being provided by the protein source. Second is the bioavailability of those essential amino acids from that protein source. And third, which is actually impacted by the first two criteria, is the ability of the amino acids for this protein source to induce something called muscle protein synthesis.

So with animal -based proteins, they’re providing you with all essential amino acids and those essential amino acids in greater amounts compared to plant -based proteins. Plant -based proteins are incomplete. The exception is soy, which is a complete protein. However, I have concerns with relying on soy as a primary protein source because of the stress that it can put on the digestive tract.

and also some of the negative effects it can have on hormonal health and thyroid health. And the authors of this paper put it well when they say, the quality of a protein can be quantified based on the amount and profile of essential amino acids, which in this case, amylase proteins are of higher quality. They’re providing all of those in greater amounts. And as well as the true ilial digestibility of

Jeremiah Farias (02:22.958)
the essential amino acids in the protein. The density of a protein in a food source can be quantified on the basis of the amount of total calories ingested to achieve intake of the daily requirement of all essential amino acids. So this is saying if less calories are required to achieve and reach protein requirements, we can consider then that protein source a higher quality protein.

So just to illustrate this, comparing animal -based proteins to plant -based proteins, their amino acid profile and the amount of amino acids that they’re each providing, I’ve included some examples of plant -based proteins and animal -based proteins. We can compare them side by side. So first we have some tofu, chickpeas, and lentils. And you can see they have a pretty decent amino acid breakdown. It’s also worth looking at the calories per gram of protein of each. So with chickpeas, it’s a bit higher.

you’re getting 18 .5 calories per gram of protein. Lentils is 12 .9 and then tofu is nine. Chickpeas clearly come with twice the amount of calories that are required to reach equal amounts of protein from something like tofu. And then when we look at the animal -based proteins, we have chicken breast, eggs and ground beef. On average, you see an even better amino acid profile, N calorie per gram.

protein. So chicken breast, it’s 5 .6 calories per gram of protein, ground beef 9 .3, which is close to the tofu, and then eggs is a bit higher, it’s closer to the lentils at 12 .3 calories per gram of protein. Now, when we’re considering this information, it may not again look like there’s much of a difference, but in the next criteria, the second criteria, we recall, I use this term bioavailability.

and we’ll get more information inside into truly are those plant -based proteins giving us what they say they’re giving us. So bioavailability is the concept of what your body’s actually able to absorb and digest and utilize in the body. In this case, we’re speaking about amino acids and how bioavailable those amino acids are. Higher bioavailability, the greater ability of your body,

Jeremiah Farias (04:50.35)
to actually utilize the amino acids that we’re consuming. There’s not much benefit of consuming, let’s say 30 grams of protein if only 50%, 60 % of those amino acids are bioavailable. And so how bioavailability is determined is using something called DIAS. It stands for digestible indispensable amino acid score.

And I’ll read what Diaz specifically is looking at when it gives various scores to protein sources. So one consumes different foods. This includes animal and plant foods. The amount of amino acids remaining at the end of the ilium, which is the last section of the small intestine, is used to calculate a score. The score, if it’s closer to 100%, there’s better…

bioavailability and digestibility. And I’ll pull up a chart to look at next. So it has some pretty popular foods that are recommended for those that are on a plant -based diet and those that are not on a plant -based diet, again, some common foods that people consume. So in the middle, you have the Diaz score, peanut butter’s at a 46, with whole green lentils at 65, split red lentils, 50.

Yellow peas 73, chickpeas 83, tofu 52. Whole milk has 114 score, eggs 113, chicken breast 108. And you’ll see on the right hand side, it gives it a protein claim. So you can consider a lot of the animal -based foods, good sources at a minimum and some are even excellent sources. And then with something like chickpeas, that was the highest score when it came to bioavailability.

and considered it a good source. But when you look at the other plant -based sources, they have fairly low bioavailability. So something worth considering. So the third criteria is the ability for a protein source to induce muscle protein synthesis. I mentioned in the previous video or any previous video, the importance of having optimal muscle mass as it relates to overall health, but also

Jeremiah Farias (07:16.622)
for blood sugar control and improving one’s blood sugar metabolism. More muscle mass acts as a sink. And so you can dispose of glucose when you’re consuming carbohydrate foods a lot easier when you have more muscle mass. As a quick aside, more muscle mass reduces the likelihood of someone falling, breaking a bone. Higher rates of muscle mass also appear to coincide with

greater bone mineral density, better brain health, cognition, you have a reduced likelihood of developing things like Alzheimer’s, dementia, the more muscle you have. So this criteria, again, I think is extremely important and animal -based proteins have a higher ability to do that. One paper, the author spoke in this work, the consumption of soy protein was demonstrated to result in lower…

muscle protein synthesis or MPS rates, and the ingestion of whey, milk, or beef protein. So these are the three criteria that I use to determine the quality of a protein source. And this then means that the higher quality protein sources I’m going to be prioritizing myself, and I encourage those I work with to prioritize. I’m wondering, before this information, what have you typically considered when…

determining which protein sources to use and consume in your day to day. Let me know down in the comments. Be sure to stay to the very end of the video. In the end of the video, I will review the protein sources that, and specifically the animal -based protein sources that you should be prioritizing. If you’re gaining value from this video, please be sure to hit that like button. And if you’re looking for practical information to begin implementing today to start improving,

your blood sugar metabolism, this can be improving your diabetes, pre -diabetes, low energy levels. Be sure to download my free guide, Five Steps to Improving Your Blood Sugar Metabolism. The link will be down in the description below. When you account for these three criteria, in my opinion, it becomes very clear that animal -based proteins are in fact superior to plant -based proteins. Now, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t individuals who have

Jeremiah Farias (09:40.718)
not put on a fair amount of, the appreciable amount of muscle mass following a plant -based diet, following a vegetarian or a vegan diet, because there are plenty of fitness athletes, bodybuilders that are plant -based vegan vegetarians. However, they are relying heavily on processed protein sources, protein supplements, protein powders. These can be soy protein, hemp, pea.

rice, etc. And so I argue in the context of a whole food diet that is prioritizing whole food animal based proteins and whole food plant based proteins that the animal based proteins are in fact superior. And of course you can use supplements. I though encourage most of the people I work with to prioritize whole foods and if you are going to use supplements there are

others that are cleaner and better. And this is, when I say cleaner, I’m referring to the contamination of some heavy metals, these things like arsenic, mercury, lead, cadmium. And there is a paper that found higher amounts of those metals and even endocrine disrupting chemicals like BPA in very popular protein supplements. This is both animal -based and plant -based, so things to consider.

So what are the animal -based protein sources that we should be prioritizing? This includes things like wild cod, low mercury, low fat seafood. This can be shrimp, scallops, oysters, mussels, clams, flounder, cod, sole, occasionally having some varieties of tuna, occasional sardines, fatty fish like the sardines and the salmon and others. And then ruminated animals, things like

beef, goat, bison, sheep, venison, elk, and moose even if you have access to those. Then lean turkey, lean chicken, and lean pork, and you can even use grass -fed dairy as a protein source. So hard cheeses, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, if you’re someone who tolerates dairy, and eggs are again a wonderful protein source.

Jeremiah Farias (12:07.566)
With any protein source, any food source overall, you’re just going for the highest quality that you can afford, that you have access to. Do not let perfection be the enemy of progress. Prioritizing whole foods of any kind is going to be better than processed foods. So those are the protein sources I would recommend prioritizing. And by recommending them, you can…

have confidence that you’re providing your body with the highest quality protein that is available. As a result, you’re giving your body the essential amino acids that it needs to not only maintain and build lean tissue as you’re pursuing resistance training, activity, exercise, or other activities, you’re also giving your body amino acids to support liver detoxification.

the ability of the liver to sufficiently detoxify is related to its health. Liver health is connected to blood sugar metabolism. And so all around you’re doing your body a lot of good by prioritizing these sources. So I’m aware that there are a lot of concerns that people have when it comes to animal -based proteins in the diet. And in the future, I plan on covering those topics and hopefully,

you know, giving clarity to the myths. I argue they’re myths that are out there. So some concerns include cancer risk, kidney issues, heart disease, acidity. And again, some of those might be warranted, but I feel like they’re missing greater or broader context, which I hope to provide in again, future videos. I’m wondering what concerns have you maybe had reservations about

prioritizing including more animal -based proteins in your diet. Maybe you have gravitated towards more plant -based proteins, especially you were having blood sugar issues, diabetes, and then doctor, nutritionists, health experts said, well, you need to cut back on this or that, mainly red meat. If that’s something that you’ve been told, let me know down in the comments, but I’m also curious, have there been other reasons people have mentioned you have found yourself?

Jeremiah Farias (14:32.472)
reducing your end protein intake. So I look forward to those answers down below. I hope you enjoyed today’s video. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to shoot them down in the comments. If you’re looking for more support and want to know what it looks like to work with me to start improving your health, your blood sugar metabolism, the best place to start is scheduling a free 30 minute discovery call.

In that call, we’ll go over your health goals and how I can help you reach those health goals. I am credentialed with a variety of insurance companies. If you’re wondering if you can use your insurance to work with me, you can check out the link in the description. And if you enjoyed this video, this content, be sure to hit that like button, subscribe so you don’t miss any future videos. I’ll see you all next week.