Nutritional evaluation of whole soybean curd made from different soybean materials based on amino acid profiles

Objectives Amino acid profiles of whole soybean curds (WSCs) and conventional soybean curds (CSCs) were comparatively studied to 1., evaluate their nutritional value and 2., study the suitable soybean material to fabricate WSCs. Materials and Methods Nine types of soybean materials were selected to make WSCs and CSCs. Protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) and principal component analysis were selected to perform the comparative analysis of amino acid profiles of the products. Results Total contents of amino acids in WSCs and CSCs were 41.24–54.87 mg/g and 27.77–36.82 mg/g. Content ranges of essential amino acids were 13.59–19.38 mg/g and 8.46–11.76 mg/g for WSCs and CSCs. The essential amino acid pattern of WSCs was basically close to amino acid pattern spectrum requirements except valine and sulfur amino acids. As a limiting amino acid, methionine represented less than 0.4 for PDCAAS in all soybean curds except WSCs made from relay-cropping Nandou12 and Nandou25. Conclusions The overall quality of amino acids in WSCs was higher than that in CSCs, indicating that WSCs indeed exhibited higher nutritional value than CSCs from the viewpoint of amino acid profile. WSCs with the high nutritional value could be made using Nandou25 and relay-cropping Nandou12 as materials.