Assessment of Dietary Protein and Amino Acid Requirements in Children below 5 Years of Age

In 2050 there will be approximately 10 million additional people to feed globally. This population surge coupled with forces like climate change will limit access to nutritious foods with the right balance of both macronutrients and micronutrients. In particular, the supply of adequate dietary protein with optimum quality to meet essential amino acid requirements across age and physiological groups will be a major challenge. Dietary protein intake in high income countries is high and is largely based on animal source foods, a situation that is linked to adverse environmental footprint associated with intensive livestock production. In this context, the world is looking for ways to provide dietary protein that balances both human and environmental health as such there is a recommendation to shift to more plant-based diets. Nevertheless, contextual factors affecting food intake need to be considered as currently dietary protein intake in low- and middle-income countries is far below the global average and is predominantly plant-based. It is well documented that plant-based dietary protein is of lower quality compared to animal source proteins that are easily absorbed and utilised by the human body. Alternative dietary proteins have been proposed as a solution as they are thought to be more environmentally friendly, sustainable and in most cases, they have comparatively higher concentration of protein and other nutrients such as iron, zinc and essential fatty acids. Alternative proteins can be derived from plants (legumes and pulses, cereals, pseudo-cereals, oilseeds), algae, fungi, and insects (beetles, crickets, termites, mealworm, silkworm, etc). However, the nutritional value of alternative dietary protein sources is yet to be fully understood. The digestibility of protein from these alternative foods remains to be documented. At the same time there is paucity of data on amino acid requirements, especially in vulnerable population groups such as mothers and children. A comprehensive database on dietary protein digestibility is being built jointly by the IAEA and FAO. More data on true ileal digestibility of underutilised foods, including alternative proteins is needed. This would eventually also facilitate discussions on protein requirements across age and physiological groups, especially among mothers and children. The Coordinated Research Project (CRP) therefore aims to generate new information on amino acid digestibility from alternative protein sources and amino acid requirements for mothers and children. Secondary objectives will include 1) to test the acceptability of diet formulations containing alternative dietary sources; 2) to assess the amino acid profile for alternative dietary protein sources and 3) to assess the effect of factors related to amino acid bioavailability such as processing, anti-nutritive factors and food matrix. Additionally, method validation and optimization will be performed in pilot studies; for example, digestibility results for the same food group derived from the pig model will be compared with those derived from DSIT. Subsequently, the pig model can be used in future to generate more data as it is cheaper to perform and compares well with the human model. If additional funding becomes available, the CRP will also generate new information on protein requirements at critical life stages and inform the design of dietary guidelines for optimum protein intake in diverse population groups in the context of changing food systems that demand sustainable consumption that balance both human and planetary health.