Protein digestibility-corrected amino acid scores for bean and bean-rice infant weaning food products

Vegetable proteins are an integral part of infant weaning diets in Latin Am erica. Protein quality in plant-based products, however, is constrained by amino acid composition and intrinsically present antinutritional factors. T he goal of this study was to improve bean protein quality by utilizing ferm entation and germination processing. The objectives were to determine if pr otein quality, as measured by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) appr oved True Protein Digestibility (TPD) and Protein Digestibility-Corrected A mino Acid Scores (PDCAAS), of formulated bean-based weaning products could be improved upon fermentation and germination and if protein quality could be further improved when processed beans were combined with cooked rice. Re sults showed that the highest TPD and PDCAAS values were obtained for cooke d germinated beans combined with rice. The TPD values for products ranged f rom 80 to 91%, and the PDCAAS values were 0.38-0.51. There was no significa nt increase (P < 0.05) of either TPD or PDCAAS values upon fermentation. Ge rmination increased TPD of cooked bean products; this increase was not, how ever, accompanied by an increase in PDCAAS. When combined with rice, the PD CAAS values for all bean products improved significantly, thus supporting t he concept of cereal-legume complementation. In conclusion, this study show ed the range of PDCAAS in processed black bean and bean-rice infant weaning food products. The potential for incorporation of these products into the diets of weaning age Latin American children would, however, be confirmed o nly after validation with growth or metabolic balance studies in human infa nts.