Bioavailability of Protein in Relation to Building Muscle
Understanding what bioavailability means in relation to food protein is important for anyone that's trying to build muscle. Since eating high quality protein is a big factor in promoting muscle growth, it's important to understand what and why certain proteins may or may not be more beneficial than others.
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Jeff Anderson, author of Optimum Anabolics & Homemade Supplement Secrets, explains the importance of biological value, and shows us how to choose the best sources of protein. |
You may have heard the term "bioavailability" in relation to protein before, but weren't quite sure what it meant.
The term bioavailablity refers to the "usefulness" of a protein or protein supplement.
Before we get any further, let's do a quick refresher course on the three important types of amino acids.
- Indespensable amino acids (IAAs) - AKA essential amino acids. IAAs must be obtained through your diet since they cannot be manufactured by your body. Foods such as meat, fish, poultry, dairy and soy all contain all of the IAAs, and they all rank highly on the boavailability chart. These foods are also know as complete proteins, since they contain all eight of the IAAs.
- Dispensable amino acids (DAAs) - AKA non-essential amino acids. DAAs can be manufactured by the body, and do not have to be obtained through diet. Vegetable and grain proteins can contain high amounts of several IAAs, but small quantities of the others. They do not contain all of the IAAs, and because of this, most of these types of food have a low bioavailability score.
- Branched chain amino acids (BCCAs) - These are a special type of essential amino acids. unlike other amino acids, BCCAs are metabolized in the muscle as opposed to the liver. They play a large role in determining the bioavailability of a protein.
*To learn more about amino acids check out this article: Amino Acids & Bodybuilding
Now more back to bioavailability...
The ratio of IAAs to DAAs is what determines the bioavailability of a certain protein. For example, the content of glutamine as well as the BCAAs (Leucine, Isoleucine and valine) is what determines how easily the protein can be utilized to repair and build tissue by the body.
The bioavailability of protein is usually measured by its biological value (BV). The biological value indicates the how closely matched the amino acids are in relation to the body's requirements. the BV measures the percentage of protein that is actually used for muscle and connective tissue growth and repair.
Which Foods Have the Highest Biological Value?
As mentioned earlier, meats and dairy products rank the
highest on the BV scale since they are complete proteins. Here is a
list of the foods which rank the highest on the BV chart, and therefore
have the highest bioavailability of all proteins:
1) Whey Protein (BV 100+)
2) Eggs (BV 100)
3) Dairy, meat, fish, poultry (BV 70 - 100)
Grains, nuts, seed and vegetables are not on this list. Since they are incomplete proteins, they have a BV of under 70. This means that the body cannot use them as efficiently as the foods with a higher BV rating.
Want to learn more? Take a look at the foods that build muscle.
