What the 15% rule? (How much protein gets absorbed?)

Did you know that 15% of plant proteins from legumes, fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains are not fully absorbed? If you’ve calculated eating 100 grams of vegetable proteins for that day, you’re absorbing only 85 grams of protein, which is a 15% loss. Vegan protein powders don’t take this loss into account so if your veggie protein powder lists 20 grams of protein for one scoop, you’re only retaining about 15 grams of vegetable protein.

In soy, milk, eggs, fish, meat and poultry there is a 5% loss of protein intake. Add another ten percent, and that’s a 15% loss in a vegan diet, but the good news is, we don’t need to eat a lot of protein.

Too many people are obsessed with getting enough protein, but the fact is, people eat too much protein and that excess protein taxes the kidneys, causes weight gain, and can trigger autoimmune diseases and cancer.

Photo: quinoa pancake