The Only Protein NOT Present in Plants: Casein

Quote du Jour
   I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious. ~ Albert Einstein

Navigating through protein wonderland
What is protein?
Protein, defined by Wikipedia, are molecules of amino acids and are "the chief actors within the cell."

I'm Curious
What's a complete protein?
A complete protein, defined by Wikipedia, is a proportion of 9 essential amino acids.

Curiouser
If plants have incomplete protein, what's missing?
Not knowing what protein is absent in a plant-based diet, I kept thinking about it, until one day, watching the excellent film documentary PlanEat, I got the answer.

Aha!
Casein
In a scene in PlanEat, T. Colin Campbell discusses the results of a study where the one protein, present in dairy products but missing in plants, was added back into a diet. The missing protein, casein, present in milk, promotes rapid growth in babies.

Mother Nature had it right all along?
Milk was not designed for adults
In several different studies, adding casein to a plant-based diet is showing the same results…that although casein does not cause cancer, research consistently shows that casein is a cancer "promoter." In adults, if cancerous tumors are present, casein promotes their rapid growth.

Milk, It Does a Body Good...or does it?
Casein Promotes Growth
T. Colin Campbell (who grew up on a dairy farm) reports in the book The China Study:

    "... we were finding that high protein intake, in excess of the amount needed
   for growth, promotes cancer. Like flipping a light switch on and off, we could
   control cancer promotion merely by changing levels of protein. The effects
   of protein feeding on tumor development were nothing less than spectacular...
   [In one experiment] all animals that were administered [the carcinogen] aflatoxin
   and fed the regular 20% levels of casein [a cow's milk protein] either were dead
   or near death from liver tumors at 100 weeks. All animals administered the same
   level of aflatoxin but fed the low 5% protein diet were alive, active and thrifty, with
   sleek hair coats at 100 weeks. This was a virtual 100 to 0 score, something
   almost never seen in research.

   …I would never have dreamed that our results up to this point would be so
   incredibly consistent, biologically plausible and statistically significant…Let
   there be no doubt: cows milk protein is an exceptionally potent cancer 
   promoter."

For a very good reason
Casein has Addictive Qualities


Don't have a cow, man.
from Wikimedia
VeggieBound.org

Mother Nature added an addictive quality to casein
as a way to keep babies drinking milk - it makes them
feel good!

And it's the casein, the milk protein that makes cheese so meltingly smooth and elastic, that is the reason many adults say, "Oh, I could never give up cheese."

Casein, in the digestive process produces casomorphins, which have an opiate-like effect on humans. Because cheese is denser than milk, the casein is more heavily concentrated, meaning that eating cheese produces a larger amount of casomorphins in the body compared to eating other dairy products.

I know, yada yada yada...
Moderation
I don’t advocate completely giving up anything, but why keep having something that’s harmful? When I was little, cheese was for special occasions. It was expensive and I can’t remember there being so many varieties available. We thought we were fancy when we had the Parmesan cheese that is still sold in shiny green shakers!

Today’s diet includes cheese in - or on - nearly every meal. Little bits, here and there are fine, just not at every meal.

Oh yum!
Satisfaction
Back to that Wikipedia link above on Complete Protein (defined by Wikipedia,). Under the heading Sources of complete protein is this information:

   "Certain traditional dishes, such as Mexican corn and beans, Japanese
    soybeans and rice, and Cajun red beans and rice, combine grains with
    legumes to provide a meal that is high in all essential amino acids."

And all these traditional dishes are delicious!

Restaurants: A New Link (check the upper right margin)
Eating Out
    Veggie Fajitas, minus cheese and sour cream, extra guacamole
    Veggie Burritos, minus cheese and sour cream, extra guacamole

No Recipe du Jour today...I'm leading up to a plant-based cheese schmear recipe that is "to die for!"

Coming Soon
Don’t Say Cheese!

At photo ops, say wheeeeee instead

Whee!