Chemical methods of evaluating protein quality.

The nutritive value of proteins 91 All measures of protein quality are a function of the limiting amino-acid, because the usefulness of a protein is limited by the amino-acid in shortest supply. The tests do not, therefore, yield any information about the other amino-acids, i.e. the potential value of the protein if given in combination with other proteins. This point needs emphasis because so often its B.V. or P.E.R. is taken as a complete description of a protein. It is possible to find two proteins with the same B.V. but with different amounts of the non-limiting essential amino-acids.