Effectiveness of methods for evaluating the nutritional quality of soybean protein

Various approaches can be used for the nutritional evaluation of protein sources. These include human and animal bioassays and microbiological, enzymic and chemical in vitro methods. Examples of the application of each of these approaches for the evaluation of soya protein sources are presented and evaluated in this paper. The ineffectiveness of rat assays for predicting nutritive value of soya protein for humans is documented. Current procedures, based on rat bioassays, which are used for nutritional labeling of dietary protein sources in the U.S. and Canada are discussed and alternative approaches described. In particular, the use of in vitro methods for estimating amino acid composition and essential amino acid bioavailability may have significant advantages for estimating the nutritive value of soya protein sources for human consumption.