The Nutritional Value of Selected Vegetarian Meals

The complementary effect of various vegetable proteins as eaten by humans in vegetarian meals was evaluated using the PER method in rats. In addition, the quality of leaf protein as the only protein source in one of the diets was evaluated. Five diets were formulated consisting of a typical breakfast menu, a typical lunch, a typical supper, a combination of the three meals, and a mixture of green leafy vegetables. The diets were isocaloric and isonitrogenous and consisted of 10% protein, 8% fat, 69% carbohydrate, 7% cellulose, 4% mineral mixture, and 2% vitamin mixture. The control diet was prepared using casein at a 10% protein level. Sixty male, weanling Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into six groups of ten each and fed one of the six diets. Five weeks were used to study the protein efficiency ratio (PER) of the test and control diets. The PER of the control diet was significantly (p (.01) higher than all other diets during the first four weeks of the study, but during the fifth week, was not statistically different from the test diets. There was no significant difference among the PER\u27s of the five test diets. The combination diet had PER values that averaged the PER values of the breakfast, lunch, and supper diets. It appears that the protein quality of leafy green vegetables is similar to that of a mixed vegetarian diet. The reasons for the exceptional high PER values for the casein control diet cannot be adequately explained