Future Protein: Nutrition Issues &

Health BenefitsProf Andrew Salter

Division of Nutritional Sciences

Future Food Beacon

Introducing Britain’s Global University

Proteins in Animals/Humans

Every protein has a specific job (i.e. no stores)

Approximately 5,000-10,000 different types of protein in each cell

The genome of higher organisms encodes approx 25,000 different proteins

Half of the total protein in an animals body is made up of only four proteins Collagen

Haemoglobin

Myosin

Actin

The amount of a protein in the body does not indicate its importance!

Structural Skeleton and supporting

tissues

Connective tissues

Cellular architecture

Enzymatic Digestion

Metabolic pathways

Protective Skin, tears, mucin

Inflammatory response

Immune response

Transport/communication Plasma proteins,

Hormones

Cell membrane transporters and receptors

Protein Function

proteins required for a variety of functions

Meeting requirements for protein

There is no requirement for protein itself Not all protein eaten can be used or is useful

Proteins have to be broken down to amino acids which can be transported across the gut wall. Digestibility is variable.

Once acquired not all proteins are of equal value. Utilisation is not equivalent Dependent on what amino acids are useful

Therefore proteins vary in Quality.

Excess amino acids can be used as an energy source

Structure and function

Mammalian proteins are made up of only 20 different amino acids

Amino acid composition dictates the structure and function of a protein

C C

HH

O

N

R-group2

C C

HH

O

N

R-group1

Peptide bond

C C

HH

O

N

R-group3

Peptide bond

Peptide bond

H

Indispensable (Essential)

Lysine Threonine Tryptophan Methionine Valine

Isoleucine Leucine Phenylalanine Histidine

Non-essential

Alanine

Aspartate

Asparagine

Glutamate

Glutamine

Conditionally Indispensable

(Essential)

Cysteine

Tyrosine

Arginine

Proline

Serine

Glycine

Amino acid requirements

Protein Quality

Protein quality depends on:

Whether amino acids get into the body (digestion) the ability to breakdown proteins into amino acids and absorb them

Whether the amino acids can be utilised, do they match the requirements? the indispensable amino acid profile

Short supply of an amino acid (indispensable) will limit protein synthesis (limiting amino acid)

Anti -Nutritional Factors

Not all influence proteins

Anti-Nutritional FactorsComponents of foods which impair the digestion/absorption of nutrients including:

• Protease Inhibitors• Lectin• Phytoestrogens• Saponins• Goitrogenic factors• Rachitogenic factors• Phytic acid• Mycotoxins• Allergens• Lipoxidase

Protease inhibitors

Common in potential alternative food products such as legumes beans

Inhibit digestion of proteins in gut

Reduce availability of amino acids

Trypsin inhibitors

Soya has high but variable quantities

Protease inhibitors

What can you do to beans? Processing

Protein Quality

Protein Lysine Threonine SAA Tryptophan AA Score Digestibility PDCAAS

(g/100g) mg/g

Requirement pattern*

48 25 23 6.6

Beef 32 91 47 40 13 100 100 100

Cow’s Milk 3.3 78 44 33 14 100 100 100

Eggs 12.5 70 47 57 17 100 100 100

Wheat 12.6 26 29 45 12 54 95 51

Rice 2.6 36 37 40 11 75 82 62

Maize 9.5 29 36 29 5 60 82 50

Amino acid score relates to how the pattern of IAA relates to requirements (mg/g protein)Digestibility is proportion of food protein that which is absorbedProtein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) = digestibility x amino acid score

Based on: Bender DA & Millward DJ (2017) In: Human Nutrition (Eds C. Geissler & H. Powers) Oxford UP

Protein & Health

• 8 ‘Proven Benefits’ of a High Protein Diet

• 1. Muscular development

• 2. Reduce calorie intake

• 3. Increase overall daily calorie burn

• 4. Increase potential for fat loss

• 5. Gain more strength from your training

• 6. Stronger tendons and faster recovery from injury

• 7. Better sleep patterns

• 8. Better quality of life

https://www.nuzest-usa.com/benefits-of-high-protein-diet

https://www.nuzest-usa.com/benefits-of-high-protein-diet

Should we eat more protein?

• For adults, an average requirement of 0.6g of protein per kilogram bodyweight per day is estimated.

• The Reference Nutrient Intake (RNI) is set at 0.75g of protein per kilogram bodyweight per day in adults.

• This equates to approximately 56g/day and 45g/day for men and women aged 19-50 years respectively

• There is an extra requirement for growth in infants and children and for pregnant and breast feeding women.

• The average daily intake of protein in the UK is 88g for men and 64g for women.

• Any excess protein can be used to provide energy.

https://www.nutrition.org.uk/nutritionscience/nutrients-food-and-ingredients/protein.html?start=2

https://www.nutrition.org.uk/nutritionscience/nutrients-food-and-ingredients/protein.html?start=2

Dietary Protein and Health in the Elderly

• Ageing is often associated with sarcopenia (degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass)

• This may be slowed by a combination of exercise and appropriate protein intake

• Protein intake in the elderly may be impacted upon by physical, mental and economic changes

• One change is a reduction in appetite which can be exacerbated by the satiating effect of protein

• It has been suggested that malnutrition affects 35% of care home residents in the UK

High Protein Diets and Metabolic Disease

Effect of high-protein meal replacement on weight and cardiometabolic profile

in overweight/obese Asian Indians in North IndiaGulati, S et al. Brit J Nutr (2017) 117: 1531-1540

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65

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85

0 20 40 60 80 100

Bo

dy

we

igh

t (k

g)

Weeks

Cont High Prot

High protein diet supplemented 2 meals/day with whey and soya protein isolates in the form of a protein shake Protein intake: Cont: 44.8±12.8g/day (12.8% energy)High Prot: 100.2±12.0g/day (28% energy)

Cardiometabolic factorsBlood Pressure (3.3%, p=0.025)LDL cholesterol (9.1%, p=0.010)HDL cholesterol (2.4%, p=0.427)Triacylglycerol (10%, p=0.078)Fasting Glucose (0.2%, p=0.848)

Using protein for energy produces Nitrogen Pollution

Small intestine

Colon

Amino acid pool

Ureapool

Total body protein

Protein Intake

Synthesis

Degradation

UrineFaeces

Absorption

Excretion

Full breakdown

Excretion

Energy

Nitrogen Pollution!!!

• Global demand for protein will increase due to population growth and increased longevity

- improved socioeconomic status leads to increasing amounts of protein being derived from animal products

• Animal agriculture is highly dependent on a limited range of protein sources:

Terrestrial farm animals: soya and cereal cropsAquaculture: wild-caught fishmeal

- The food production industry is increasingly concerned about protein availability • Climate change will impact on the crops we can produce and, potentially,

their protein content• Thus, there is an urgent need to identify novel sources of high quality

protein

Are we going to run out of protein?

World Africa Asia Americas Europe OceaniaTOTAL 81.2 69.1 77.6 93.3 102.1 101.6Animal 32.1 16.1 26.6 52.1 57.9 66.2Meat 14.5 7.2 10.7 29.3 26.3 36.2Milk 8.2 4.0 5.8 14.5 19.1 17.0Fish/seafood 5.2 3.1 5.8 3.6 6.6 6.8Eggs 2.8 0.8 2.9 3.4 4.0 2.5Plant 49.1 53.0 50.9 41.1 44.2 35.4Wheat 15.9 11.3 15.7 13.6 25.7 17.9Rice 10.1 4.7 14.5 3.7 0.9 2.4Maize 3.6 9.9 1.8 7.0 1.3 0.8Pulses, nuts & seeds 7.5 10.4 7.5 8.2 3.2 4.0Soyabeans 1.4 0.9 1.8 0.7 0.2 0.1Vegetables 4.9 2.2 6.4 2.2 3.6 3.3Starchy roots 2.3 4.1 1.7 2.1 3.5 2.6Potatoes 1.5 0.8 1.3 1.7 3.5 2.1Fruits 1.1 1.2 1.0 1.4 1.3 1.2Animal:Plant ratio 0.65 0.30 0.52 1.27 1.31 1.87

Major sources of dietary protein in different geographical areas(Data expressed as g protein/ per capita/ day. Adapted from Gorissen & Witard (2017)

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World NorthAmerica

EuropeanUnion

LatinAmerica and

Caribbean

BRICS South EastAsia

Asia andPacific

Africa

Kg

/pe

rso

n/y

ear

Beef Sheep Pork Poultry

Salter AM (2018) OIE Scientific & Technical Review 37 (1)

Estimated Per Capita Meat Consumption in Selected Regions (2014-16)Based on data presented by OECD-FAO

Global Meat Consumption

Consumption rising in most countries within these regions

Meat, Health & the Environment

• Meat represents an important and highly digestible source of high quality protein and a wide range of micronutrients

• Red meat consumption (pork, beef, lamb) has been associated with increased risk of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and some Cancers (particularly Colorectal)

• Processed Red Meat (e.g. Bacon, Sausage) may have worse effects than Fresh Red Meat

• Livestock frequently compete for human-edible food and water

• Livestock production contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and to nitrogen pollution

World Wildlife Fund (US) and Rockefeller Foundation Protein Research Group

“Equitable and sustainable management of protein in human diets is one of the grand challenges of our time. Future protein systems will involve transformation on the scale of the Green Revolution. Massive change is inevitable; it is our ability to anticipate and prepare that will determine whether this transformation is a journey towards healthy people and healthy ecosystems, or a progressive break-down in the capacity of land, rivers and oceans to support our livelihoods and lifestyles”

Prof Andy Salter is one of 12 global scientists selected to sit on this working group,which is to meet 4-5 times in US, Kenya & India in the next 18 months

Enhancing the production of high quality protein

from existing and novel sources.

Principal Investigator: Andrew Salter

Co-Investigators: Tim Parr, John Brameld, Jo Gould, Tim Foster, Serafim Bakalis,

Ourania Gouseti, Simon Avery, Ying Zhang, Yin Sze Lim, Sean Mayes, Asgar Ali.Collaboration between Nutrition, Food Science, Engineering, Life Science and UNMalaysia Campus

Now developing links with Industry and other External Partners

The overall aim of this project is to evaluate novel systems for production of plant

and non-plant protein sources, to assess their nutritional value and to develop their

use for animal feeds (including aquaculture) and/or human consumption.

Future Proteins Platform

The Future Protein Platform

Plants Bacteria Fungi Insects

University of Nottingham is investing £1 million into research into novel sources of protein for food and feed

Aims & Objectives

The overall aim of this project is to evaluate novel plant and non-plant protein

sources and to develop the most suitable for animal feeds and/or human

consumption.

Objective 1 Investigate the alternative means for generating protein and whether

these can be manipulated to improve the quality or efficiency by which protein is

produced (WP 1-6)

Objective 2 Determine interventions which potentially utilise alternative, low-

value feed sources to facilitate the sustainable production of such proteins (WP

7-8)

Objective 3 Development of these protein sources for use in aquaculture, farm

animal production and as human food ingredients (WP 9-10)

• Economical and safe production • Assessment of nutritional value • Enhancing the nutritional value through:

Optimising feed substratesConventional breedingGenetic ManipulationProcessing

• Compare different protein sources for use as human foods and animal feeds

We will compare different novel protein sources

Addressing the protein shortage

• Alternative protein sources need to• Meet essential amino acid requirements • Be bio-accessible (including digestible)

Single alternative protein sources are unlikely to meet these requirementsThe potential solutions are likely to be a combination of

identifying a range of protein sources (mixed approach) manipulating amino acid composition (lower species) and antinutrients Addition of specific amino acids processing to remove anti-nutrients and improve bio-accessibility

The effectiveness of the protein source has to be assessedin vivo or a validated methodology which reflects this

Bowman- Birk inhibitor

Phytic acid

Biology Engineering Food Science Nutrition

Future Protein Platform will take a cross-discipline approach to developing novel sources

of protein for food and feed

Future Protein Platform

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mg/

g p

rote

in

BSFL meal Fish Meal

Katya et al (2017) Int Aquat Res, DOI 10.1007/s40071-017-0178-x

Now looking at similar strategies for replacing Soya in farm animalsFunding from BBSRC & ABAgri

WG = weight gain, SGT = specific growth rate, FCR = food conversion ratio

Replacing Fish Meal with Insect Meal in Aquaculture

Nutritional Composition of Different Protein Sources

Fishmeal Mealworm Bacteria

Energy (MJ/kg) 17.4 24.1 22.9

Protein (g/kg) 633 667 673

Fat (g/kg) 58 155 3

N-3 LCFA (%FA) 6.0 0.1 0

Calcium (mg/kg) 66823 1141 104

Iron (mg/kg) 23 61 323

Zinc (mg/kg) 81 145 21

Salter, Conradie, Parr & Young, unpublished

Based on dry weight

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lys thr meth val ile leu phe his

Fishmeal Mealworm Bacteria

Now working to determine the in vivo digestibility of these protein

Future Protein Partnerships

• MSci Student Projects/Placements• PhD studentship support• Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnerships• Innovate UK grants• Research Council Grants

andrew.salter@nottingham.ac.uk

mailto:andrew.salter@Nottingham.ac.uk

Acknowledgements

University of Nottingham Future Food Beacon (led by Prof David Salt)Colleagues from across the University and in Industry who are helping to build the Future Protein Platform

Prof Tim Parr & Dr John Brameld for helping put this talk together

Options for keeping the food system within environmental limits Springmann et al (2018) Nature: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0594-0

“Here we show that between 2010 and 2050, as a

result of expected changes in population and

income levels, the environmental effects of the food

system could increase by 50–90% in the absence of

technological changes and dedicated mitigation

measures, reaching levels that are beyond the

planetary boundaries that define a safe operating space for humanity.”