Vegetable proteins: are they nutritionally equivalent to animal protein.

On the basis of the rate of animal growth, proteins have been traditionally classed as high quality, such as egg and milk protein, or low quality such as gluten. In general, vegetable proteins are of low quality but soy protein is an exception. The paper by Capristo et al. in this issue of the journal has shown that enteral formulations consisting of soy protein are as effective nutritionally as enteral formulations containing milk protein.