In a new study of people with long-term vegan diets, most ate an adequate amount of total daily protein, but a significant proportion did not meet required levels of the amino acids lysine and leucine. Bi Xue Patricia Soh and colleagues at Massey University, New Zealand, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One.
These findings underscore that meeting total daily protein requirements does not necessarily mean meeting indispensable amino acid requirements. On the basis of their findings, the researchers call for future research to explore how intake of leucine and lysine could be boosted for vegans in a nutritionally balanced manner.
