Research
Macro partitioning
Vegetarian and vegan diets provide sufficient protein and amino acids for adults when they include a variety of plant-based protein sources such as legumes, nuts, and seeds.
If you are eating a vegetarian or vegan diet, ensure you include protein-rich plant foods like legumes, nuts, and seeds in your daily meals. You do not need to obsess over combining specific proteins at every single meal; simply eating a variety of these foods throughout the day is sufficient to meet your protein and amino acid needs.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
protein-rich foods, such as traditional legumes, nuts and seeds, are sufficient to achieve full protein adequacy in adults consuming vegetarian/vegan diets, while the question of any amino acid deficiency has been substantially overstated.
Why this rating
Based on a comprehensive review of multiple large cohort studies (EPIC-Oxford, Nutrinet, AHS-2) and meta-analyses.
Source
Dietary Protein and Amino Acids in Vegetarian Diets—A Review
François Mariotti et al. · Nutrients · 2019
DOI 10.3390/nu11112661
narrative_reviewCited 393×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Older adults transitioning to vegetarian or vegan diets may face greater challenges in maintaining protein adequacy compared to younger adults.Moderate
- Children following vegetarian or vegan diets do not have specific concerns regarding protein adequacy due to their high energy requirements relative to protein needs.Moderate
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