Protein Absorption: Needs to Pay Attention

Protein digestion and absorption is a bigger matter of concern than consumption. In absence of them, you will end up experiencing a number of disorders like gas, constipation, gas, ligament laxity, trouble in muscle building, depression, and others. 

Generally, people talk about the sources of protein, supplements, dosages, and benefits but ignore protein absorption completely. No matter in which fitness regime you are or the quality of protein supplements, if protein is not digested and absorbed properly, you can’t see significant results. 

Infact, there may be some complications like mentioned above, though. Let’s know about the protein and all about it’s absorption before jumping to any conclusion. 

What is Protein? 

Protein is a group of amino acids that is crucial for healthy growth of organs, muscles, hair, hormones, tissues, enzymes, and bones. Also it helps in maintaining their health and repair. The body needs 20 amino acids out of which it can only make 11. Other nine of them, the body takes through protein rich meals. 

What Are Protein Rich Foods?

All the amino acids can be attained with a protein rich diet. Here are some protein rich meals you must consider to include your diet. 

• Chicken, Eggs, Duck, Bush Birds, Turkey & Other Poultry
• Lamb, Pork, and Other Lean Meats
• Crab, Prawns, Scallops, Mussels, Fish, and Other Sea Foods
• Milk, Cheese, Curd, Yoghurt, and Other Dairy Products
• Whey, BCAAs, Isolate, Casein, and Other Supplements

What Are The Nine Essential Amino Acids?

In the body, nine such amino acids are found that it can’t produce itself. So, the body needs them from external sources like meals. That is why these are called essential amino acids. Here are these:

• Tryptophan
• Histidine
• Valine
• Isoleucine 
• Leucine
• Phenylalanine
• Threonine
• Lysine
• Methionine

Out of these nine essentials, there are three essentials which are called BCAAs and that are: Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine. 

Do You Know 10 Best Protein Sources For Vegetarians and Vegans

What Is The Role Of Enzymes In Protein Digestion?

The digestion of protein takes place in the body, as soon as people start chewing the meal. Actually, we have two types of enzymes in our saliva: Lipase and amylase that break down fats, protein, and carbohydrates. Some other common enzymes involved in breaking down these macronutrients are trypsin, carboxypeptidase, and chymotrypsin. For better understanding, let’s break down the digestion process into steps.

• After breaking down in the mouth, protein sources enter the stomach
• Proteases like enzymes and HCL in the stomach break it down into amino acids
• Peptides join these small amino acids together
• Small amino acids make chain there
• These chains move to small intestine from stomach
• At the same time, pancreas releases bicarbonate buffer and enzymes
• These aid the body to reduce the acidity while digesting foods
• This reduction aids in increasing the numbers of enzymes
• Increased numbers of enzymes help in breaking down the chain of amino acids again to form into individual amino acids

That’s how the digestion process takes place in the body. Let’s further inculcate how protein gets absorbed into the body.

How Does Protein Get Absorbed Into The Body? 

Small intestine consists of microvilli which support protein absorption. These are finger-like small structures that increase the surface area where the process takes place in the small intestine. With increasing surface area, the absorption of nutrients, including protein and amino acids also increase. 

After the process of absorption is completed, amino acids enter the bloodstream. With this way, these amino acids get transported to other parts of the body via cells and results in speeding up muscle building and tissue repairing process. 

What Can You Do To Increase Protein Absorption?

So far, we have understood the role of enzymes in digestion and absorption of proteins in the body and these are internal processes where we don’t have much space to do. But with some habits, selection of protein combinations can support our body for faster absorption and digestion. 

What are the Habits to Increase Protein Digestion

Only by following the right kinds of habits, people can avoid the consequences of undigested protein. All these habits are easy to perform but very effective in improving both the digestion and absorption. 

• Choose right source of protein
• Eat throughout the day regularly
• Increase the whole protein meal which include all essential aminos
• Chew the food properly. Many people suggest to chew a bite 32 times
• No intense workout immediately after meal
• Keep at least 30 to 45 minutes gap between training and meal
• Big no to smoking and alcohol consumption
• Take probiotics with meal
• Follow a exercise routine daily
• Add fibre in your meal
• Don’t just eat protein once in a day, in fact eat it throughout the day 
• Choose right meal combinations for protein

What Are The Best Meal Combinations For Protein Absorption?

People enjoy a wide range of protein sources, including eggs, fish, milk, and others but most of them don’t know the combination they should use. In absence of that knowledge, they end up making protein hard to absorb. Here are some of the best meal combinations for protein digestion and absorption. 

Meal Combination	Benefits
Milk and Quinoa	Quinoa consists of fat, fiber, and protein. Whereas milk consists of whey, casein, and other proteins, BCAAs, calcium, and other minerals. Together they keep healthy digestion and absorption.
Whole grain and beans	Whole grain consists of a large number of minerals like copper, magnesium, iron, zinc, B vitamins, fiber, protein, and others. While beans consist of protein, folate, magnesium, iron, and others. Together the meal combination improves the absorption of nutrients.
Nuts and whole grain	With the combination, get a rich profile of fibre, protein, and fatty acids for overall health.
Whole grain and seeds	Excellent protein, vitamins, mineral, fibre, and fatty acids profile that help in better nutrient absorption.
Beans and sunflower seeds	Beans are a great source for protein and sunflower seeds have rich vitamins and mineral profile that is great for improved protein digestion.

All these meals are good in combination but there are some other meal combinations of protein that you should avoid. 

Avoid Meal Combination	Why?
Milk and raw eggs	Raw egg is less palatable so can lead to biotin deficiency. The possibility of bacterial infection increases. With milk, it can increase the chances of high cholesterol levels.
Eggs and Bacon	Both are rich sources of protein but together they take a long time in digestion.
Milk and orange juice	Individually, both meals are good for protein, vitamins, and minerals. But together they can be the reason for heartburn and gas, and other digestion issues.

Conclusion

Protein malabsorption, which means inability to digest protein, really needs attention as it can cause several health issues. One of them is acid reflux that can attract serious health measures if not taken care of at the right time. With the given information, you can enable yourself and fix this without delaying much because it only exacerbates the protein malabsorption.