M4 Lesson 3 - Essential Amino

Acids and Their Significance

An essential amino acid is a standard amino acid needed for protein synthesis that must be
obtained from dietary sources because the human body cannot synthesize it in adequate
amounts from other substances. There are nine essential amino acids for adults, and a
tenth one is needed for growth in children. The table below shows the list of essential
amino acids.

The human body can synthesize small amounts of some of the essential amino acids, but
not enough to meet its needs, especially in the case of growing children.
A complete dietary protein is a protein that contains all of the essential amino acids in the
same relative amounts in which the body needs them. A complete dietary protein may or may
not contain all of the nonessential amino acids. Conversely, an incomplete dietary protein is
a protein that does not contain adequate amounts, relative to the body’s needs, of one or
more of the essential amino acids. Associated with the term incomplete dietary protein is
the term limiting amino acid. A limiting amino acid is an essential amino acid that is missing,
or present in inadequate amounts, in an incomplete dietary protein.
Protein from animal sources is usually a complete dietary protein. Casein from milk and
proteins found in meat, fish, and eggs are complete dietary proteins. There is one
common incomplete dietary protein that comes from animal sources. It is gelatin, a
protein in which tryptophan is the limiting amino acid.
Protein from plant sources tends to be incomplete dietary protein. With plant proteins,
three amino acids are often limiting: lysine (wheat, rice, oats, and corn), methionine
(beans and peas), and tryptophan (corn and beans). Note that both corn and beans have
two limiting amino acids. Soy is the only common plant protein that is a complete dietary
protein.
Complementary dietary proteins are two or more incomplete dietary proteins that, when
combined, provide an adequate amount of all essential amino acids relative to the body’s
needs. A mix of plant proteins generally provides high-quality (complete) protein. Rice by
itself is an incomplete dietary protein, as are beans. A serving of rice and beans provides
all of the essential amino acids by protein complementation.

Prior to the development of genetic engineering procedures, the quality of a given

plant’s protein was something that could not be changed. Genetic modification
techniques can improve a plant’s protein by causing it to produce increased amounts of
amino acids that it normally has in short supply. Such genetic modification, if fully
implemented in the future, would be especially important in areas of the world that rely
heavily on one incomplete protein food source (beans or corn or rice); a much higher
quality protein would be available to the people for consumption.