I met an animal nutritionist recently and we talked on various topics. In the course of our conversation, he told me, ‘As a person who has formulated the diet for animals for several years now, I often wonder if we approach Human nutrition with the same temper and rigor’. After the meeting was over, his words kept coming back to me and I decided to research on the topic. He couldn’t have been more accurate. As humans, we do neglect nutrition to a great extent. Take for example, the critical component of our nutritional needs: Protein. The Indian Market Research Bureau’s 2017 report states that protein deficiency among Indians stands at more than 80 percent, measured against the recommended 60g per day.
I met an animal nutritionist recently and we talked on various topics. In the course of our conversation, he told me, ‘As a person who has formulated the diet for animals for several years now, I often wonder if we approach Human nutrition with the same temper and rigor’. After the meeting was over, his words kept coming back to me and I decided to research on the topic. He couldn’t have been more accurate. As humans, we do neglect nutrition to a great extent. Take for example, the critical component of our nutritional needs: Protein. The Indian Market Research Bureau’s 2017 report states that protein deficiency among Indians stands at more than 80 percent, measured against the recommended 60g per day.
According to WHO standards, we should be consuming 1 gm of protein for every Kg of bodyweight per person (Both Men and Women). Considering an average weight of 60 Kgs, a person should be consuming no less than 60 gms of protein per day. However, at present, India’s average protein consumption is only about 5-10gms, which is less than half of our daily protein requirement. This is creating acute protein deficiency across all strata of the society, irrespective of income levels. Please refer to the table below to understand how we fare in protein consumption with respect to other countries and how it correlates with 2012 Olympics medal tally.
Among the poor, this protein deficiency manifests itself as malnutrition. However, amongst the rich, this deficiency in protein contrarily leads to increase in consumption of carbohydrates which is leading to either obesity or diabetic conditions or in some cases both.
Protein is incredibly important when it comes to losing weight.As you know, you need to take in fewer calories than you burn to lose weight.It’s well supported by science that eating protein can increase the number of calories you burn by boosting your metabolic rate (calories out) and reducing your appetite (calories in) Protein at around 25–30% of total daily calories has been shown to boost metabolism by up to 80–100 calories per day, compared to lower protein diets.Yet, probably the most important contribution of protein to weight loss is its ability to reduce appetite and cause a spontaneous reduction in calorie intake. Protein keeps you feeling full much better than both fat and carbs . Thus, it is very clear that we must take a serious look at our food preferences if we are to address this protein deficiency.
We have several choices before us to address this protein gap, both from meat sources and from pulses. To evaluate difference sources, we need to have some criteria. One of the useful criteria to evaluate different criteria is calorie intake that goes with different protein sources. Please refer to the table below. It is very clear that the calorie intake associated with meat sources are much lesser when compared to the vegetarian sources.Another criteria most people use when evaluating different protein sources is using cost per gram. As of 25/12/2019, The cost per gram of protein of different sources is listed below. It is very clear that here again, meat sources are far lesser in terms of cost per gram when compared to the vegetarian sources.
*Prices as of 25/12/2019
Please note: Even though soybeans have a low price per gram of protein, many people avoid it because soybeans contain phytoestrogens, a plant hormone which mimics the role of estrogens found in female body.
Apart from this, meat sources are rich in Vitamins, particularly in Vitamin B12, which is completely absent in Vegetarian sources. Another problem with the protein quantum from beans, legumes and lentils is that they have been observed to have been drastically reduced in the recent years on account of depleting soil fertility and pollution. Between 1993-94 and 2011-12, protein levels in beans/ legumes dropped approximately 60 percent and in brown lentil (whole) by 10 percent.
Even amidst the meat sources, beef and pork are avoided by people for religious reasons, which leaves only Chicken, Mutton, Fish and eggs as the viable alternatives amidst meat sources for a vast majority of the population. Many a times, fish is subject to regional and seasonal availability. There are also concerns about Mutton from a nutrition point of view. Both Fish and mutton are also out of reach amongst a vast majority of people because of high prices and low availability. However, chicken and eggs are available throughout the year and very affordable sources of protein.
Several new age diets aimed at weight loss and diabetes control like Paleo diet and Keto diet specifically include a health quantum of these meat sources and effectiveness of these diets are being recognised by an increasing number of dieticians, nutritionists and doctors.
Despite these advantages, India’s percapita consumption of these foods are amongst the lowest in the world. Presently, our Chicken consumption is barely 4.4 Kg per person and our egg consumption is only 55 eggs per person. It is quite clear that we ought to be consuming more chicken and eggs if we are to over come this national protein deficiency epidemic.