Methionine?
Posted by lovinglife on Jun 16, 2010 · Member since Jun 2010 · 46 posts
Hi all! I'm glutenfree vegan and tracking my nutrition in Cron-o-meter, and amongst a few other deficiencies I've noticed, is a deficiency in the amino acid Methionine. Does anyone else notice this?
It looks like vegan sources where it's available are pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and brazilnuts. I try not to eat to much nuts and seeds because of the omega-6's, but maybe I should still eat more? Or should I just take a Methionine supplement?
Oh exciting!! I've answered my own question!!
Teff, my favorite grain, is super high in it!! According to Nutritiondata.com, it has 428mg of methionine per 100g serving. So my breakfast of 1/4 c. wholegrain teff already supplied 30% of my RDA for the day!! Yay!
Wild rice is also very high, (438mg), and quinoa (309mg), amaranth (226mg) and millet (221mg) are pretty good sources too.
make sure you don't get too much, it's not good for you. a lot of the studies that have talked about high protein and life expectancy found methionine as the culprit.
Yes, I'll make sure I don't get too much. I'm just trying to reach the minimum recommended of 800mg per day, I kept coming up quite a bit under that every day. I know it is very important for hormone balance, which is a problematic issue for me (estrogen dominance, BCs):
http://www.drlam.com/articles/Estrogen_Dominance.asp?page=4
http://www.anyvitamins.com/methionine-info.htm
I also have history of schizophrenia in my family too.
http://www.vitamins-supplements.org/amino-acids/methionine.php
Hm...that last one is interesting, that means for my weight I should get 676mg per day, I'm still not reaching that either but I guess I'll make that my target instead!
If sesames seeds are high in it, you can make your own hummus with tahini and I think you'll be covered.
Cron-o-meter must be really accurate to give you that much detail. One problem I've had with such things is that vegan food like seitan, tempeh and quinoa weren't on them, but I haven't tried one in many years.
Thanks Tweety! Yes, I thought about that too, I do like tahini! But I just checked in Cron-o-meter and a tbsp of tahini only has 10% of the RDA for Methionine. So some, but not as much as a serving of teff. Also I'm trying not to rely too much seeds or nuts because of the omega 6's. So it's a relief to find teff is a really great source!
And yes, Cron-o-meter really works well for me! I eat mostly whole grains, beans, and veggies, so those are easy to track in there! :-)
Who eats just a tablespoon of tahini???? LOL
What's "teff"?
Teff is a very tiny brown grain from Ethiopia. It's very nutritious! High in iron, calcium. manganese, etc. And super tasty! I like to have it for breakfast, it tastes just like CocoWheats.
However, I didn't realize just how high it was in Manganese! I had two servings the other day, and my manganese was actually at toxic levels (12.9mg for the day!)! So, maybe it's not good to have too much of it!