The Amino Acid Score of Proteins in Diet and Food in Japan

There are many kinds of the chemical scoring methods to estimate the nutritive value of protein in food and diet. Recently, the new chemical scoring method, which is called “Amino Acid Score”, was proposed by the Joint of FAO and WHO Energy and Protein Requirement Committee in 1973.Therefore, the amino acid score of protein consumed by the Japanese people was calculated from the data of the National Nutrition Survey conducted in Japan in 1971.The results are shown as follows:In comparing the amino acid pattern of the Japanese diet with the FAO's new reference pattern of amino acid, sonly threonine was the limiting amino acid among the eight essential amino acids. Thus the amino acid score of the Japanese diet based on the amounts of all essential amino acids was 98 and the most limiting amino acid was found to be threonine. But the score based on the amounts of three amino acids (lysine, tryptophan and the total of sulfur containing amino acids) calculated was 100.