Vegan Protein Advice

Protein is an intrinsic part of every single persons diet, and as a vegan especially it is important to pay close attention to your diet to ensure you eat the required amount of protein to avoid health problems. Protein is required by the body to maintain the body and for healthy growth, as well as ensuring hormonal balance and other pshycological substances. Lack of protein in a vegan diet can cause degeneration of both your body tissue and mental state

Proteins are large molecules made up of amino acids, currently there are 20 amino acids found in plants and vegetables, however the consensus is that only eight of these are required on a day to day basis. These amino acids are,

Isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine.

Small children and infants also need Histidine and taurine for healthy growth.

The actual amount of protein that is thought to be required for a healthy diet is regularly changed by experts, though not by a huge amount. The truth of the matter is that the true importance of each amino acid and how much protein is required by the body for a healthy diet is still heavily under debate by many different dietary bodies.

Fortunately the US government body has released the RNI (Reference Nutrient Intake, recently replaced the RDA in the UK and is similar to the United States Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA)). The RNI is a value which provides the recommended daily intake or more than that value to more than 97% of the population.

You can see which vegan foods hold the best sources of protein for the vegan diet on our Protein Rich Vegan Foods page.

The amount of Protein recommended for a health diet varies for people of different ages, weights and gender. Forunately we have compiled a small list of the recommended values for vegans of different ages right here!

By using this recomended protein amount table for different age groups you can ensure that no matter what your age you are consuming enough protein in your vegan diet.