You’ve read the ingredients, but how much of that is Bioavailable?

By 22. January 2018Blog

It may state on the packet how much protein is contained per 100g, but how much does your body take up?

Today’s topic is bioavailability. This term is used to describe how much of a certain component in the food will be absorbed by your body, or how much of it is in a form you’re your body can utilise. Just because it is in your food doesn’t mean you will take it in.

We have talked about bioavailability a number of times in the past (Curry yogurt anyone?, Ditch the tea and spike the cheese , Anthocyanins and the microbiome). In today’s blog, we are talking about protein.

Researchers from University of Exeter in collaboration with Quorn Foods, have demonstrated that the protein found in Quorn, a fungal based protein called mycoprotein, has an equivalent bioavailability as milk protein, which is known to be high.

Apparently many plant protein sources have poor bioavailability compared to meat sources hence the desire to demonstrate that this non-meat based protein source does not suffer from this problem.

The researchers also point out that it would be a suitable protein source for muscle building, but with a much smaller environmental impact than animal based alternatives.

Click here to read more