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Amino Acid Composition and Nutritional Evaluation of Mulberry Leaves

WANG Fang, QIAO Lu, ZHANG Qingqing, SHEN Bin   

  1. College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
  • Online:2015-01-15 Published:2015-01-16

Abstract:

The protein content and amino acid compositions of mulberry leaves were analyzed. Based on the obtained data, whole
hen’s egg protein and the FAO/WHO reference model of essential amino acid (EAA) were used to evaluate the nutritional values
of the leaf protein in comparison with plant proteins from four other species. The results showed that the proteins from mulberry
leaves were rich in EEAs and contained at least 17 kinds of amino acids (AAs). EAAs accounted for 34.7% of the total AAs in
mulberry leaves. The first limiting AA in these proteins was ILE. The ratio coefficient of amino acids of proteins in mulberry leaves
was 69.71, indicating that mulberry leaves are a source of proteins with high nutritional value.

Key words: mulberry leaf, leaf protein, amino acid, nutritional evaluation

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