3.2.1.1 Protein GapFill

Proteins are organic macromolecules built from  amino acidspeptidescouscousadipose tissue, bound together into long chains.There are about 20 different amino acids which can combine to make a molecule of protein. Some of the amino acids can be built by the body from scratch – for this reason they are called 'dispensable'. If an amino acid cannot be built by the body from scratch, it is called  a misoan insolublean essentiala high biological value amino acid and has to be provided as a part of a healthy diet.

There are  ninetwentyeleventwo essential amino acids and if they are all present in a molecule of protein, such protein is called a complete protein and has a  insufficient valuehigh biological valuehigh energy valueincomplete value. If one or more of the amino acids is missing, the protein is considered  an unstablea low biological valuea stablea solid protein.

Protein  complementationcorrelationcoagulationcomplementing allows us to combine two or more sources of low biological value proteins to make a   wholeadequatetextured vegetablefatty protein. An example of this is  hot dogspaghetti bolognesebeans on toastcheese on toast. Complete proteins occur mostly in  fruits and vegetablesnutsplant foodsanimal-derived foods, but also in  quinoabreadgherkinscouscous and  tomatoesgreen peassoyolive oil.

Proteins are necessary to build  adipose tissueunsaturated fatall cells in the bodylard , enzymes and hormones. They can also be used as a  freeprimarysecondaryinsoluble source of energy – this means that they are only used as a source of energy if other sources (carbohydrates and fats) are not available.
If a person eats too little protein, he or she may develop a disease called  kidney stoneskwashiorkorscurvynight blindness. Too much protein can also be harmful for the body, causing harm to the liver and the kidneys.