How do vegetarians get enough protein in their diet?
MYTH: “Vegetarians get little protein.” FACT: Plant foods offer abundant protein. Vegetables are around 23% protein on average, beans 28%, grains 13%, and even fruit has 5.5%. For comparison, human breast milk is only 5% (designed for the time in our lives when our protein needs are as high as they’ll ever be). The US Recommended Daily Allowance is 8%, and the World Health Organization recommends 4.5%. MYTH: “Beans are a good source of protein.” FACT: There is no such thing as a special “source of protein” because all foods — even plants — have plentiful protein. You might as well say “Food is a good source of protein”. In any event, beans (28%) don’t average much more protein per calorie than common vegetables (23%). MYTH: “You have to combine plant foods to make the protein just as good.” FACT: This myth was popularized in the 1971 book Diet for a Small Planet and has no basis in fact. The author of the book admitted nearly twenty years ago that she made a mistake (in the 1982 edit
