PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTATION OF NAVY BEANS WITH SESAME

ABSTRACT Feeding experiments with weanling rats showed that the protein of Navy beans ( Phaseolus vulgaris ) and sesame ( Sesamun indicum ) are mutually supplementary. Standard diets containing as the sole source of protein: beans (B); sesame (S); and mixtures of 87.5% B protein with 12.5% S protein, 75% B protein with 25% S protein, and 50% B protein with 50% S protein, resulted in the following protein efficiency ratios (PER): 1.56, 1.19, 1.79, 2.26 and 2.30, respectively, compared to 2.50 for casein. The net protein ratios (NPR) correlated almost perfectly (r = 0.99) with PER. The amino acid scores by the method A/E correlated highly with both PER and NPR (r = 0.82 and 0.81, respectively). The amino acid scores by the method A/T correlated even better with PER and NPR (r = 0.96 and 0.97, respectively).