?incomplete protein? myth
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The ?incomplete protein? myth was inadvertently promoted and popularized in the 1971 book,Diet for a Small Planet,by Frances Moore Lapp In it, the author stated that plant foods are deficient in some of the essential amino acids, so in order to be a healthy vegetarian, you needed to eat a combination of certain plant foods at the same time in order to get all of the essential amino acids in the right amounts. It was called the theory of ?protein complementing.?
Lappcertainly meant no harm, and her mistake was somewhat understandable. She was not a nutritionist, physiologist, or medical doctor; she was a sociologist trying to end world hunger. She realized that converting vegetable protein into animal protein involved a lot of waste, and she calculated that if people ate just the plant protein, many more could be fed. In the tenth anniversary edition of her book (1981), she retracted her statement and basically said that in trying to end one myth?the inevitability of world hunger?she had created a second one, the myth of the need for ?protein complementing.?
In this and later editions, she corrects her earlier mistake and clearly states that all plant foods typically consumed as sources of protein contain all the essential amino acids, and that humans are virtually certain of getting enough protein from plant sources if they consume sufficient calories."
source:
http://www.forksoverknives.com/the-myth-of-complementary-protein/
