Composition of polyamines and amino acids in plant-source foods for human consumption.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Level 5 by design analogy; laboratory bench compositional analysis of food samples without human participants.
PubMed 31197570 · doi:10.1007/s00726-019-02751-0
What was done
Quantified polyamines, agmatine, and individual total and free amino acids on a dry matter basis in selected plant foods (corn grains, soybeans, sweet potatoes, pistachio nuts, potatoes, peanuts, wheat flour, and white rice).
What was found
On a dry matter basis, total polyamines were highest in corn grains, followed by soybeans, sweet potatoes, pistachio nuts, potatoes, peanuts, wheat flour, and white rice. Free amino acids constituted ≤ 3.1% of total amino acids in corn, peanuts, pistachios, soybeans, wheat flour, and white rice, but reached 34.4% in potatoes and 28.5% in sweet potatoes. Asparagine comprised 32.3%, 17.5%, and 19.4% of total free amino acids in potatoes, sweet potatoes, and white rice, respectively. Major amino acids varied by source (glutamine highest in pistachios, wheat flour, and white rice; arginine in peanuts; leucine in corn; glutamate in soybeans; asparagine in potatoes and sweet potatoes). All plant foods lacked taurine, creatine, carnosine, and anserine, and contained little 4-hydroxyproline. Absolute concentrations were not reported in the abstract.
Why it matters
Provides baseline compositional data on polyamine profiles and complete amino acid patterns across common plant staples, highlighting specific amino acid limitations in vegetarian dietary sources.
Limits
This was an in vitro compositional laboratory assay with no human intervention, digestibility, or bioavailability testing. The abstract omits sample sizes, crop varieties, geographical origins, and absolute quantitative values.
Cited by
- supports Taurine, anserine, creatine, carnosine, vitamin B12, and 4-hydroxyproline are dietary nutrients that occur only in animal foods and are absent from plant sources.