How Different Amino Acid Scoring Patterns Recommended by FAO/WHO Can Affect the Nutritional Quality and Protein Claims of Lentils

Objectives
  • Evaluate protein digestibility-corrected amino acid scores (PDCAAS) for specific Lentil cultivars and compare to protein levels. Use these results to make recommendations for changing legislation to be more inclusive of alternative protein sources.

  • Measure the levels of disulfide bonds and free sulfhydryl groups in specific Lentil cultivars and use these values to help explain the drop in total protein levels. Also use this information to see if there are any breeding targets for increasing these levels in our current germplasm.

Germplasm
Germplasm Genus
Lens
Germplasm Scientific Name
Lens culinaris
Germplasm Collection
AGILE Lentil Diversity Panel (LDP) subset
Executive Summary

As a nutritious pulse and protein source, lentils play an important role in the plant-based protein market. Pulses' nutritional quality is influenced by their protein content and amino acid composition. Recommended scoring patterns by FAO/WHO can estimate protein quality for dietary assessment, but different guidelines for protein content in food labeling exist in North America. This study determined the in vitro protein digestibility (IVPD) and amino acid score (AAS) for the protein quality assessment of lentils. The impact of different recommended amino acid scoring patterns by FAO/WHO (1991, 2013) on AAS and AAS corrected for in vitro protein digestibility (AAS-IVPDC) were evaluated. The impact of AAS-IVPDC for determining protein content claims for lentils using USA standards was also evaluated. Sulfur AA and tryptophan were the most limiting amino acids. From this work, estimates of lentil protein quality vary with different recommended amino acid scoring patterns. IVPD in lentils was 82.6%, while mean AAS-IVPDC values ranged from 37.5% to 64.0%. Regarding the protein content claims, if considering a similar interpretation to the protein digestibility–corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) system (i.e., corrected content is ≥ 5.0 g per RACC), all lentil samples were considered a “good source of protein.” However, if considering a similar interpretation to digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS) system (i.e., corrected content is ≥ 5.0 g per RACC and a claim threshold of 75%), no samples met these protein claims due to the arbitrary cut-off. The criteria set for making protein content claims should be revised.

Attribution
The following researchers and their organizations were involved in this work and should be credited for their role in any resulting or related publications.
Data Custodian
Data Curator
Research Organization
Experiments
Experiments
Objectives
  • Estimate the Amino Acid Scores for 18 proteins based on their percent composition on a dry basis.

  • Determine the in vitro protein digestibility (IVPD) of lentil samples for which the amino acid scores have already been estimated.

  • Calculate the in vitro–protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (IV–PDCAAS) and in vitro–digestible indispensable amino acid score (IV–DIAAS) for these lentil samples.

Associated Datasets
Dataset

Experiment Results (Excel, TSV)

The results of five experiments performed to determine the free sulfhydryl group concentration for the four genotypes: Crimson, Eston, ILL 5888, ILL 4164. Soluble protein content was determined by BCA (Bicinchoninic acid) protein assay following the test tube procedure in Thermo Scientific™ Pierce™ Kit for colorimetric detection and quantification of protein which will be expressed as BSA (Bovine Serum Albumin) equivalents. Free sulfhydryl groups were determined according to Mession et al (2015, Food Hydrocoll, 46, 233)

Grant Activity
Title
EVOLVES: Enhancing the Value of Lentil Variation for Ecosystem Survival
Data Custodian
  • Kirstin E Bett
  • Albert Vandenberg
Research Organization
Funding Range

2019-2023