- cross-posted to:
- coolguides@lemmy.ca
- cross-posted to:
- coolguides@lemmy.ca
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I want this chart, but add the third Z axis of “environmental cost” whether it be just CO2 emissions or a “total” impact score.
I imagine those legumes get even stronger, while the meats lose ranking.
I like this scatter plot. If you really want to get freaky with it, you should take into account the “protein digestibility-corrected amino acid scores.” Things like eggs and whey are 100%, beans are usually in the high 70’s, and peanuts are actually down at near 50%.
So for nutrition’s sake, not all protein sources are created equal, and it makes sense that if you are trying to get adequate protein at the lowest price, you also want to get sources where you can eat the least of it to satisfy the protein requirements of your body.
Curious where tofu would be at on this chart.
Probably somewhere around the legume cluster. They’re really pulling their weight there, as expected, though peanuts are quite the dark horse.
Pricing and product availability is regional and variable, but some napkin math using my local Walmarts pricing puts it at:
- 5.33g protein per 100g food
- $3.04 for 30g protein
That puts it in the green veggie cluster if I’m not getting the axes confused.
the problem is there are a ton of varieties of tofu, and they’re all generally around the same price. it seems the silken tofu have around 5g of protein, but some of the extra firm varieties have over 15g protein per 100 tofu, putting it in a much more respectable spot in the bottom middle with the grains and such
c/theydidthemath?
Thanks so much, that’s very helpful and actually a little disappointing.
No problem! Turns out my Walmart only sells a single package type of tofu so take it with a grain of salt. It’s still a cheap and good protein source, but not as dense as an animal or legume protein source.
Take it with way more than a grain of salt — add some nutritional yeast and MSG, anything to give that tofu flavor!
Is that extra soft tofu? It usually has more protein than that. A pack of extra-soft I have is 8g / 100g, and some other varieties seem to be 10-15 from online sources.
I used a firm tofu, purely because the only other option was over four times the price and the chart specified they used the cheapest price/weight possible. The soft tofu does have about 30% more protein per serving for the same weight, but the price would likely make it an outlier.
Oh no, it’s much better than that.
Google suggests it’s 8g per 100g, which on paper doesn’t sound great but a package over here is around 2 bucks for 16oz, roughly 450g. Being conservative we could say 50 cents for 100g.
8, 16, 24, 32 puts us a little under 2 bucks.
That said, tofu is 5 servings of 70cal; the 100g isn’t all calories. I’m guessing water? In any case, that eats into your cost effectiveness, putting it closer to the center than near the legumes where it really should be.
Your mileage may vary though. Nuts are great, but peanuts only pull ahead because of how insanely cheap they can be. They’re much fattier. Tofus great, though, if you prepare it as intended and not as some meat substitute like many Americans tend to do.
Great post!
I wanted to add that this isn’t quite how proteins work. Those protein-rich legumes aren’t what you would call ‘complete proteins.’ There’s a number of amino acids our bodies use as proteins and while legumes are a good source of many of them, there’s a couple proteins you won’t get enough of from just the beans. Fortunately, brown rice- while not as rich in protein- gives you the proteins that the beans are lacking. That’s why beans and rice are a match made in heaven.
Herbivorous animals are just better at metabolising proteins from plants and of course they’re capable of eating much more than us. That’s why they’re able to live off of grass.
This just stuff I read up on a few years ago so if I’ve gotten something wrong please say so
Explains how elephants are able to get so jacked without consistent income, they just poppin’ them peanuts for days!
Bro! My bicep is way bigger than any trunk so I could defeat an elephant in a boxing match, no prob! A gorilla, too because they only eat leafs. A bear could maybe pull off a draw because they eat them good fish proteins and have knives as fingers so I would need a knife too or my hunting bow.
This would be cool with ratio of protein to calories as well, in the same format.
Yeah protein vs calories would be way more useful than protein vs weight.
This may be helpful from a cost / gram of protein but its a bit misleading on the grams protein/ 100 g axis for beans - those are the dry bean numbers.
That seems reasonable, given they presumably use the price for dried beans as well. When you care about price (and therefore about about a price/protein graph) you buy beans dried.
Unless you’re trying to consider how to veggie up your protein for the gym and suddenly you have to eat twice as many beans as you thought.
Comparing liquid to dry foods on the same chart is completely disingenuous. Also look at any label. Cows milk always has more protein than soy milk.
I don’t see what you mean. The left axis is a measurement of cost per gram of protein. The bottom gives you a measurement of density. So anything lower on the chart is cheap for what you get and then the further right you go the smaller the portion required to consume to get that amount of protein.
How do liquids differ from dry foods in terms of protein stuff? (Waves hands vaguely).
I was mildly surprised that milk is way down in the bottom left quadrant.
its mostly water
This data seems way off - steak has 24-30g of protein per 100g, for example
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It would be nice to see cholesterol counts on here as well. Good work though.
Why? I thought dietary cholesterol had little to nothing to do with blood cholesterol levels? That’s what it seems to me like this source is saying, but I’m not an expert by any means.
You’re correct. Saturated fat intake increases LDL (atherogenic kind, e.g. the “bad”) cholesterol, there’s even a nice formula for it: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25286466/
how legumes have more protein per weight than ground beef?
80% ground beef is 20% fat
80/20 ground beef has 17g of protein per 100g, lentils have 9g per 100g
maybe its per dry solids? yeah something doesnt seem right though.
Yes, that’s what it is, which is a useless metric.
Cooked Pinto beans are 9 grams of protein per 100 grams.
I wouldn’t say so, since it’s a comparison of price vs protein. You don’t tend to buy wet beans (unless they’re canned), so it’s a reasonable graph considering.
Yeah, it’s dry weight. I just checked the labels on my beans at home. They all approximately 7g protein per 35g beans (i.e. 20g protein per 100g beans).
Most likely dried legumes vs uncooked meat that is full of water.
Sirloin steak needs to be added to this. It’s not only cheaper than other steak but it’s significantly higher in protein too at 27g per 100g.
What, no grubs?
I got a bag of almonds for $11. 85 grams of protein. Holy fuck. Also delicious!
I wish I could eat legumes
