What are proteins?

Its name comes from the Greek proteos, which means fundamental, relating to the important function they serve for life.

Proteins are molecules formed by linear chains of amino acids. In total, there are 20 amino acids, which can be seen as the alphabet that has 26 letters that compose millions of words. The 20 amino acids combine in approximately 50,000 different combinations to form different protein structures in the body. Just as different words have different meanings, different amino acid structures produce different parts such as muscle and cartilage.

Proteins have many functions in the body. They are essential for the growth of the organism and perform a vast number of different functions, among which stand out:

• Structural. This is the most important function of a protein (e.g., collagen)

• Immunological (antibody)

• Enzymatic (e.g., sucrose and pepsin)

• Contractile (actin and myosin)

• Homeostatic: they help maintain pH (act as a chemical buffer)

• Signal transduction

• Protective or defensive

2 categories of proteins

Proteins have been classified into two groups: complete and incomplete proteins.

Complete proteins:
For a protein to be considered complete, it must contain all 10 essential amino acids. Remember that “essential amino acids” are molecules that the body does not produce. This means it contains everything the body needs to produce all types of protein structures.

The 10 essential amino acids are:
• Valine • histidine • lysine • isoleucine • methionine • leucine • phenylalanine • tryptophan
• threonine • arginine

There are a number of foods that contain all 10 amino acids including chicken, eggs, fish, red meat, milk, and dairy products. It is noteworthy that most sources of complete proteins come from animal sources. However, one can eat a diet rich in plant proteins and meet all their protein needs for the day, which is about 60 grams per day for an adult.

Incomplete proteins:
An incomplete protein is a food that lacks one or more of the 10 essential amino acids. Foods considered incomplete proteins are plant-based foods such as beans, rice, cereals, legumes (except soy), and vegetables.

2 major controversies about protein

In recent decades, there has been much controversy regarding eating too much red meat and/or dairy products. Health experts have reported that high consumption of red meat may be related to heart diseases, and that protein from milk and dairy products is linked to multiple sclerosis, allergies, and neurological disorders.

What we do not know is that the culprit is commercially farmed red meat, not red meat from organically raised animals.

What cows eat determines the type of meat they provide to the consumer. If the farmer feeds the cows corn (a food that cows are not meant to eat in their natural diet), their meat will end up high in omega-6 fatty acids, which promote inflammation in the body. Here we have a direct connection to heart diseases due to inflammation of the arteries caused by hardening of the arteries.

Eating beef from organically farmed cattle where the animal is free and does not eat corn has a completely different picture. In this case, there is no inflammation; on the contrary, omega-3 fats will increase in their diet.

Milk and dairy products are another matter. Milk consists of three parts: fat or cream, whey, and dairy solids. The problem lies in the dairy solids, which are composed of many different proteins in addition to lactose and other sugars, according to Dr. Woodford, Professor of Farm Management and Agricultural Business at Lincoln University in New Zealand. One of those proteins is beta-casein. Proteins are long chains of amino acids that have many branches coming off the main chain. Beta-casein is a chain with 229 amino acids and proline at position 67, at least in the old cows, called A2. These include Guernsey, Jersey, Asian, and African cows.
Cows that have this mutated beta-casein are A1 cows. These are historically more recent breeds, such as Holstein and Friesian cows.

The chain coming from this histidine is a protein fragment known as beta-casomorphin 7 (BCM 7). The negative effects of this fragment can be devastating as it is a powerful opioid or narcotic as well as an oxidant.

There is a significant difference between human beta-casein protein and beta-casein produced by A1 type cows. Human beta-casein is more similar to that of A2 type, meaning that human milk releases much less beta-casomorphin than that released in A1 milk. Researchers in New Zealand testing human milk found that it contained less than 1% of beta-casomorphin 7 protein compared to the same amount of milk from an A1 cow. This means that the narcotic effects of human milk for feeding babies are less than one-hundredth of those produced by A1 milk.

It is unknown whether beta-casomorphin 7 protein may be a problem in cheese, ice cream, yogurt, milk, or other dairy products. In France, A1 breeds of cows were not accepted, and French cheeses are made with A2 milk. In the U.S., there is only one dairy factory with A2 cows to date, located in Nebraska Firth.
The absorption of this protein is much lower in people with healthy digestive tracts, suggesting that maintaining digestive health should be a priority for all who drink milk in countries with a majority of A1 cows. One of the best ways to achieve this is with the daily consumption of probiotic foods. As an alternative, we can also use goat milk, which is A2 type.

Plant proteins vs. animal proteins

Foods of plant origin contain protective substances such as fiber, antioxidants, and phytochemicals, clearly related to health and quality of life. Additionally, they contain no cholesterol, and their unsaturated fat content is generally very low. When digesting meat, what happens is that all the intermediate processes that natural chemicals go through to transmute into proteins are eliminated.