What Is the Effect of Protein Source on the Amount of Digestion that Occurs?

Overview

Objectives/Goals The goal of this project was to determine what type of protein is broken down the most. The categories were: poultry, red meat, tofu, wheat gluten, and beans. Methods/Materials I used 4 oz. samples of each protein source, and cooked them all in a similar manner. The process of digestion was simulted by grinding the protein in a food processor and adding digestive enzymes. These included Pepsin, artificial gastric juice, and pancreatic enzymes. The pH was taked before and after a two hour period of digestion, and the change in pH showed how much the protein had broken down. (three trials) Results I found that the greatest change in pH occured in the poultry samples, where the mean pH dropped from 6.84 to 6.64. The tofu and wheat gluten samples also experienced a statistically significant drop in pH, while the red meat and beans did not. Conclusions/Discussion Poultry appears to be the best digested source of protein, and it also contains the most protein: 35 grams. While red meat offer more iron, beans offer more fiber, poultry stands out for it's digestibility.

Competition history

• CSEF 2004 Biochemistry/ Molecular Biology · Entry S0410

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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