Mycoprotein: Study highlights digestibility, essential amino acids, and sustainable benefits
Key takeaways
- Mycoprotein has strong nutritional potential, as research suggests it offers high digestibility and a similar amino acid profile to animal proteins.
- Nutritional quality varies based on fungal species and cultivation methods.
- Mycoproteins are also gaining traction as a more sustainable alternative to meat.
Health and sustainability concerns are continuing to drive demand for plant-based foods, prompting the industry to innovate. A study has found that mycoproteins have digestibility similar to that of animal proteins, including chicken, fish, beef, and casein.
It also found that mycoproteins contain the essential amino acids. Unlike many other plant-based proteins, they do not contain phytates, making it easier for the body to absorb nutrients such as iron.
Ricky Wang, author of the study and former Ph.D. candidate at University of Borås, Sweden, tells Nutrition Insight about his latest study on mycoprotein, suggesting it may be an alternative source of nutrients to meat.
Many plant-based foods are difficult for the body to absorb and digest. Wang says the first thing to know about mycoprotein is that many fungal species can be cultivated on a wide range of substrates and methods.
“Mycoprotein has high protein content and an excellent amino acid profile. Mycoprotein protein contents are lower than animal-based protein, which are often higher than 50%.”
“However, the amino acid profile of mycoprotein is excellent. They have an essential amino acid profile similar to animal-based protein, except for being lower in methionine, but still in the good range of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s and WHO’s recommended value,” explains Wang.
He notes that the protein content of mycoprotein depends on the cultivation media and method. “When I cultivated the fungi using oat media, their protein content became only 21%.”
Diving into the food matrix
Amid the ongoing “protein boom,” researchers previously called for dietary guidelines to pay closer attention to protein quality and to how foods meet human metabolic needs for essential amino acids and nitrogen.
Wang says the study investigates how nutrients are released or hydrolyzed from the food matrix.
Wang’s study investigates how nutrients are released or hydrolysed from the food matrix.“My research found that the fungal proteins are pretty much highly digestible compared to animal-based proteins. However, it depends on the species and media. When I grew the fungi in winery residue that contains polyphenols, certain species of fungi showed that the protein digestibility became very low.”
“Here, mycoprotein does not contain any phytate — an antinutrient in plant-based protein. This means mycoprotein could be an excellent source of iron. However, in my research, I found that zinc accessibility is not quite good, despite the absence of phytate, most likely due to a particular species.”
He stresses that the protein’s poor zinc accessibility will still require further research.
“The mineral content, such as iron and zinc, is highly dependent on the fungal species and the media they are cultivated on. Some species, in a good cultivation method and substrate, could yield a mycoprotein with excellent protein digestibility and mineral accessibility,” explains Wang.
“Unfortunately, regarding the nutritional digestibility of foodstuffs, there is no standard method or report that can be included in the nutritional claim. We tend to want to generalize mycoprotein as a certain food category.”
The research on mycoprotein nutrition is still new and will need further development, says Wang.
“Filamentous fungi have great potential as a sustainable protein source. With the right cultivation techniques, they could become a key to more resilient and climate-smart food production systems.”
Gaining attention
A previous Canadian study found that partially substituting animal protein foods with plant protein ones could increase life expectancy and decrease greenhouse gas emissions by about 25%.
Other research found that substituting animal-based protein with mycoprotein effectively lowers circulating cholesterol levels in overweight adults with high cholesterol. The study was carried out on fungal-derived products from Quorn.
Last year, Dutch company The Protein Brewery closed its €30 million (~US$35.2 million) Series B round, transitioning into the next phase of growing its commercial presence and scaling its fungi-based ingredients. The capital will expand the company’s production of its proprietary mycoprotein, Fermotein, while scaling its innovation platform to serve global food manufacturers.
