help me understand complete/incomplete proteins

[adrianna!!]

I was watching Sara Moulton on "Sara's secrets" and she mentioned something about complete and incomplete proteins. Like beans and rice TOGETHER make a complete protein. Something about amino acids, I think. But she said you don't have to eat them at the same time. If you have rice for luch and beans for dinner, then you have made a complete protein for the day. My questions are:

Is cheese a complete protein?

Is quinoa a complete protein?

How about milk?

Does the thing about eating grains at one time, beans at another make sense to you?

Thanks, and any other info you may have would be appreciated!

[sneezles]

Proteins are composed of amino acids, 12 of which are manufactured by the human body. Another 9, called essential amino acids, must he obtained from food. Most animal products, such as meat and dairy products, contain all of the essential amino acids and have been designated as containing complete proteins. Most proteins from vegetables also contain all 9 essential amino acids, but 1 or 2 may be low in a particular food compared with a protein from most animal sources.

Here's a link with some other info regarding grains, seeds, legumes and nuts:

http://www.2-fit.com/miscellaneous/proteindif.html

[wallycat]

Not sure if this link will work:

http://krupp.wcc.hawaii.edu/BIOL100/present/nutrtion/sld026.htm

That slide shows a pretty good "venn-type" diagram of amino acids.
THey shade the slides with grains one color, the beans/legumes in another color and a third color on where they overlap.
This means that if they overlap, they both contain that same amino acid. By "combining" the aminos from one color chart with the other, you can obtain complete proteins.
Initially, it was assumed these foods had to be eaten at the same time; since then, it's been discovered that as long as you eat them within 24 hours, the body can make the combination.

Does this help?
editing to say, all animal proteins (except geletin) is a complete protein (eggs, cheese, etc.)

[adrianna!!]

Thank you...you guys are great! I was going to "google" it and sift through the information, but them I remembered this board...you're always so helpful! Thanks for the links!

[DocAgocs]

Cottage cheese is an excellent complete source of protein.