ABSTRACT

It is evident that protein intake, in the appropriate amounts and in the right form, is essential to the hard-training athlete. Whereas the recommended amount of protein intake has been discussed elsewhere (Chapter 4), this chapter will discuss the various forms of protein and highlight what makes one type of dietary protein different from another type of dietary protein. The explanation that some protein sources are better (unique) than others is really quite simple-proteins are unique based on the different sequence of amino acids of which the proteins are comprised. Depending on this sequence, the amino acids will interact in different ways giving different proteins unique three-dimensional structure, causing them to react differently with other molecules. In addition to the sequence of the amino acids, the composition of individual amino acids that comprise the different types of proteins also plays a large role in determining if a particular protein is high quality or low quality. For example, research over the past 10 to 15 years has demonstrated

5.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................95 5.2 Complete versus Incomplete Proteins.............................................................96 5.3 Measures of Protein Quality ...........................................................................98