>That is something I seriously doubt. Whole proteins are presented to
>the immune system and are in your blood after you have eaten them. There
>   m u s t   be some reason for this and I doubt that you can always
>eat a formula that contains all necessary aminoacids. Perhaps you would
>become "immune deficient" (no no, not AIDS) by this?

Let me clarify. Of course, the body can absorb large molecules (that's why
we can have allergies to milk protein). The simplest explanation for this
is that we have "leaky guts", and our enzymes are not able to process all
proteins completely in the digestive tract. My point was that you can be
vegan and get all your essential amino-acids without difficulty.

>I thought neophobia is a learned or at least instinctive behavior, not
>a mechanism of the body?

Neophobia is an instinctive behavior which prevents poisoning from new
foods.

>I can assure you, that not every totally new food I got from Orkos
>tasted bad in the beginning. Some (e.g. the Safus) were great right from
>the start.

Of course. Several factors affect the taste, including your need for it,
neophobia, social aspects. Of course, new foods don't taste always bad,
otherwise we would never try anything new, and babies couldn't absorb
anything once weaned. I am just saying that neophobia, aversions, etc.
play a non-negligible role.

Last remark about proteins: here is the % of proteins by calories.

Mackerel (Atlantic)  : 37
Mung beans (sprouted): 32
Lentils (sprouted)   : 28
Wheat (sprouted)     : 14
Almond               : 14
Cauliflower          :  8
Artichoke            :  6
Avocado (California) :  5
Banana               :  4
Olive                :  3
Apple                :  1

Best wishes,

Jean-Louis
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