Quote from killthesunshine:
no, you are grossly misinformed.
what essential amino acids would that be?
Plants contain ALL ESSENTIAL amino acids. Plants are a COMPLETE protein.
A variety of plants eaten over a period of time supply all essential amino acids.
Certainly there are a few nutrients that are difficult to obtain thru plants such as B12, Vit D. But overal PLANTS are are far more nutrient dense than animal sources and with far LESS harmful substances such as cholesterol and sat fats.
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One plant are not complete protein. You have to combine different plants and eat at the same time to make a complete protein. Different amino acids (combine) to make protein, so you need to eat them (together/same meal/same day) to get complete protein
Animal products have complete protein. You can eat one egg, one peice of meat ...and have nothing else to eat/combine with that animal product, and you have all amino acids to make complete protein. You can not eat one plant and have complete protein. So if you eat many plants that have esencial amino acids, it does not make complete protein unless you eat them together/at same time. If one day you eat one plant, then next day another, then another day eat another plant so that you have all amino acids to make protein, it will not make protein because the amino acids have to work (together)(same time)(same day) to make protein.
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Essential Amino Acids
Out of the many thousands of possible amino acids, humans require only 20 different kinds. Two others appear in the bodies of some animal species, and approximately 100 others can be found in plants. Considering the vast numbers of amino acids and possible combinations that exist in nature, the number of amino acids essential to life is extremely small. Yet of the 20 amino acids required by humans for making protein, only 12 can be produced within the body, whereas the other eightâisoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valineâmust be obtained from the diet. (In addition, adults are capable of synthesizing arginine and histidine, but these amino acids are believed to be essential to growing children, meaning that children cannot produce them on their own.)
A complete protein is one that contains all of the essential amino acids in quantities sufficient for growth and repair of body tissue. Most proteins from animal sources, gelatin being the only exception, contain all the essential amino acids and are therefore considered complete proteins. On the other hand, many plant proteins do not contain all of the essential amino acids. For example, lysine is absent from corn, rice, and wheat, whereas corn also lacks tryptophan and rice lacks threonine. Soybeans are lacking in methionine. Vegans, or vegetarians who consume no animal proteins in their diets (i.e., no eggs, dairy products, or the like) are at risk of malnutrition, because they may fail to assimilate one or more essential amino acid.
http://www.answers.com/topic/amino-acid