Palmerston North’s Paul Moughan one of several Kiwi scientists working on new protein guidelines

Some of the Riddet Institute-affiliated researchers who presented at the 2023 International Symposium on Dietary Protein for Human Health are (from left): Paul Moughan, Harjinder Singh, Ethan Cain, Suzanne Hodgkinson, Sylvia Chungchunlam, Carlos Montoya, Natalie Ahlborn, Janice Lim, Alejandra Acevedo-Fani and Andrew Fletcher.

The nutrition world is soon to rip up protein guidelines and implement a new way of assessing protein quality in foods, thanks largely to work done by the Riddet Institute in Palmerston North.

The current guidelines are flawed and new techniques are revealing gaps in global nutrition, Massey University Distinguished Professor Paul Moughan says.

The world’s leading experts in protein met in the Netherlands in September to discuss ways to address the nutritional needs of a burgeoning world population.

Moughan, a Riddet Institute fellow laureate, was one of them, also chairing the 2023 International Symposium on Dietary Protein for Human Health.

He says New Zealand food labelling currently only shows consumers protein quantity, not quality. Yet the ability to digest and absorb protein varies between different protein sources.

Along with Moughan, seven scientists gave presentations at the event that were either New Zealand researchers or have Massey University connections as Riddet fellows. A total of 51 scientists spoke at the three-day summit.

The Riddet Institute is a centre of research excellence, hosted by Massey, which focuses on fundamental and advanced food research.

Key questions were addressed at the symposium - how much protein do we really need and why? How often do we need it? How do we know what types of protein are most important to the human diet?

Good quality protein is vital to human health, and traditionally, the best sources have been meat and dairy products, Moughan says. Made up of nine essential amino acids, protein is key to healthy growth, development and metabolism processes. Humans become malnourished without it.

Protein is found in animal and plant foods in different amounts, is digested at different rates, and the body cannot digest some forms of protein. Excess protein that is not used by the body cannot be stored.

Much of the data collected by scientists over the past 10 years on protein and amino acid digestibility has been spearheaded by research done at the Riddet Institute by Moughan and Dr Suzanne Hodgkinson.

The outcome of that research is a new scoring methodology that evaluates amino acid absorption from protein foods. It is set to replace the existing guidelines and rewrite the nutritional textbook.

The United Nations estimates the world population will reach 9.7 billion by 2050. A UN sustainable development goal is zero hunger by 2030.

Moughan said the new methodology will help stave off malnutrition and is critical to future food security.

“[This is a] superior system of describing dietary protein quality that would be better for people, that would be better for health, and better for the planet.”

The development of a protein quality database will be jointly managed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency.