What comes to mind when you hear the word protein? Meat? Eggs? Milk? Most of us first think of foods on the table. Yet many important molecules working inside our body are proteins too. Hemoglobin, insulin, collagen and antibodies are well-known examples, and still many people do not know they are proteins.
Our body's own protein world
Our body synthesizes these proteins using the amino acids we take in from food and its own metabolic resources. The body can make some amino acids itself, while others have to come from food (essential amino acids). So it is not a ready-made protein we eat that the body uses as it is, but the building blocks that make it up.
A few examples:
- Hemoglobin takes part in carrying oxygen.
- Insulin plays an important role in regulating blood sugar.
- Collagen is one of the structural components of many connective tissues.
- Antibodies work in the defense mechanisms of the immune system.
So protein is not only the building block of our muscles. It is a broad molecular world that takes part in our body's communication, transport, defense and structure.
Is the protein we eat used the same way in the body?
No. Eating a protein does not mean that protein will be used in the same form in our body. Food proteins are generally broken down by digestive enzymes into amino acids and small peptides. These absorbed units are then used according to the body's needs at that moment.
We can compare it to building material. With bricks taken from one building we can build a new one, but we do not carry the old wall as it is and set it down in a new place. Digestion splits the food protein into its bricks, and the body builds its own proteins from them.
For this reason it would not be right to assume that a food containing collagen will replace the collagen in the body, or that a protein like insulin will take over the same job directly. This article is not advice; it offers a point of view: between the protein eaten and the protein the body makes, there is a stage of "conversion."
What is a protein, really?
Every protein is built by lining up amino acids one after another like a chain. Twenty standard amino acids build proteins; the length of the chain and the order of the amino acids inside it decide what the protein will be. The chain then folds into a three-dimensional structure, and the protein's job comes largely from that structure. The same twenty amino acids, in different sequences, can form an oxygen carrier or a hormone.
The proteins we take in with food are amino acid chains in the same way. The difference is that these chains are broken down by digestion and rebuilt according to the body's own plan. The protein of an egg, of milk or of wheat does not stay "egg protein," "milk protein" or "wheat protein" in the body; it is first split into common building blocks.
Grams are only part of the story
Looking at protein nutrition only as the gram amount in a food means seeing a small part of the story. What matters is not only how much protein we consume, but also its amino acid composition, its digestibility and how our body makes use of it.
That is why food science has a separate heading called "protein quality." Protein quality is assessed by looking at the amino acid composition and digestibility of the protein in a food; PDCAAS and DIAAS are among the measures used for this purpose. The gram count on a label does not give this information by itself.
We consume protein, yes. But our body builds its own protein world. How well do we really know the relationship between the protein we eat and the proteins our body makes? We need to analyze this question more carefully.
The BÄKKER view
When developing BÄKKER, our aim was not only to make bakery products with increased protein content. We aimed to develop an approach that treats protein sources within scientific criteria and evaluates product composition and nutritional context together. In this approach we believe that protein amount, amino acid profile and protein quality should be assessed together with suitable analysis methods.
When giving product information we also pay attention to this distinction: protein values should be shared with a note on whether they refer to the mix or the baked product, and it should be remembered that they can vary with production and baking conditions.
In short, the question is not only "Which protein am I eating?" but also "Which building blocks does that protein offer the body?"
This article is for general information only; it is not medical advice and it is not intended for treatment.
Related pages: all articles, our protein page, Yüksek Proteinli Sade Unlu Mamuller Miksi No.20, the amino acid pool and the cellular journey of protein.
