Todd M. Lasner, age 10, of Greensburg, Pa., for his question:

PLANTS ARE GOOD SOURCES OF PROTEIN?

This is a very complicated story because the human body builds its needed proteins from bits and pieces. Some plants provide several of these basic ingredients. Some plants provide other needed protein builders. So far as we know, there is no plant that provides enough of them all. This is one reason why a healthy menu includes a large assortment of different food items.

Salads, fruits and vegetables provide very little protein. But we need them to provide minerals, vitamins and bulky roughage. Sugary sweets provide practically no protein at all  or any other vital food material. The best protein sources are meat and dairy products. They contain so called complete proteins  which means balanced amounts of all the different amino acids that the human body needs to build its own proteins.

However, nowadays, many of us plan a few meatless days, hoping to get the needed protein builders from the vegetable kingdom. This can be done  if we secret the right assortment of vegetables and be sure to eat them at the same meal.

The human body needs about 10 different amino acids to build and rebuild its needed proteins. Some plants have more of this one and less of that one. But no single plant seems to have them all, at least not in the properly balanced amounts. In order to get our complete protein from the plant world, we must know which plant foods to combine  and eat at the same meal.

For example, wheat and other cereal grains have generous amounts of most needed amino acids. But they are very short of the one called lysine. However, lysine is most abundant in peas, beans and other tasty vegetables of the legume plant family. This is why the best sources of plant protein lie in a combination of plant food.

Wheat does not provide all the protein builders we need  until we add a little soy flour from a member of the legume family. Corn and beans provide all the necessary protein builders. So does a meal of baked beans and wheat breads or beans with corn tortillas.   

Be sure to remember to combine these protein building plants in the same dish or in the same meal. And you may wish to enrich your protein sources by adding a few other meatless extras. For example, eggs, milk and dairy products add lots of extra protein builders in properly balanced amounts. It's a good idea to include these foods with our protein rich cereal legume combinations.