Complete and Incomplete Proteins
What are proteins and what do they do?
Proteins are large, complex molecules that play many critical roles in the body ( US Library of Medicine, 2019). They do most of the work in cells and are required for the structure, function, and regulation of the body’s tissues and organs ( US Library of Medicine, 2019).
According to US Library of Medicine (2019), Proteins are made up of hundreds or thousands of smaller units called amino acids, which are attached to one another in long chains. There are 20 different types of amino acids that can be combined to make a protein. The sequence of amino acids determines each protein’s unique 3-dimensional structure and its specific function.
Complete proteins are those that contain an adequate amount of all the essential amino acids. These include all the animal based proteins and some plant based protein.
Updated November, 2019