Even though all proteins yield 4 calories, physiologically they may be different! They are rated according to their usability by the body for the purpose for which they are meant: growth, repair and maintenance of various tissues and physiological systems. This rating is called “Biological Value”.
Because of the varying quality of proteins in various food items, our body is not capable of utilizing it fully (100%), Biological Value (BV) of a given protein (generally in a food item) is a scale (in percent) used to determine the percentage of protein utilized by the body for its physiological processes, from the total protein in the food item in question. The highest theoretical BV of a protein is 100%. We can say that BV is a measure of how much protein(and how quickly) from a given food item (containing protein) is absorbed by the body into the bloodstream (in the form of its free constituents-the amino acids). A list of various food items containing protein is given below:
Protein Source | Biological Value |
---|---|
Eggs (whole) | 93.7 |
Eggs (whites) | 80 |
Fish | 76 |
Beef | 74.3 |
Milk | 84.5 |
Chicken / Turkey | 79 |
Potato | 34 |
Whole Wheat | 64 |
Soy beans | 72.8 |
Brown Rice | 64 |
White Rice | 56 |
Peanuts | 55 |
Corn | 60 |
Dry beans | 58 |