>Another limitation of the USDA database i have encountered is, that
>all ingredients are listed by *weight* only.
>But weight is not the real limiting,
>or amount determining property of food. More interesting would be
>ingredients per *energy* or per *protein*. So one could more easily
>determine how good a days amount of energy of a given food item
>can supply ingredients.
>
>For SQL this may require to establish a temporary database, with a
>"ratio"-column included. Or maybe a good sql can list and sort on
>"computed" fields like "tryptophan per 2400kcal".
I'm not sure I agree with this. Consider lettuce. For me,
the limiting factor when eating lettuce is not the calorie content,
it's the volume.
But to answer your question, I've provided a table of foods sorted by
tryptophan/calorie ratio.
I have to admit I have little intuition about what the results of
this table mean. For example, brown mushrooms have a fairly high
tryptophan/calorie ratio, but does that mean they are a good source
of tryptophan? At .056g/100g, I would say not. You would have to eat
a kilogram of brown mushrooms in order to get as much tryptophan as is
in 100g of cooked elk meat.
On the other hand, I think it's interesting that wild game meats, organ
meats, and seafood all appear high on this list.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------+-------+----------+-------+---------+
| Description | tryptophan | Units | calories | Units | ratio |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------+-------+----------+-------+---------+
| Game meat, elk, raw | 0.414 | g | 111.000 | kcal | 0.00373 |
| Game meat, elk, cooked, roasted | 0.545 | g | 146.000 | kcal | 0.00373 |
| Seaweed, spirulina, raw | 0.096 | g | 26.000 | kcal | 0.00369 |
| Soy protein isolate, potassium type, crude protein basis | 1.116 | g | 321.000 | kcal | 0.00348 |
| Soy protein isolate, potassium type | 1.116 | g | 326.000 | kcal | 0.00342 |
| Egg, white, dried, powder, glucose reduced | 1.266 | g | 376.074 | kcal | 0.00337 |
| Egg, white, dried, flakes, glucose reduced | 1.181 | g | 351.077 | kcal | 0.00336 |
| Soy protein isolate | 1.116 | g | 338.000 | kcal | 0.00330 |
| Seeds, sesame flour, low-fat | 1.097 | g | 333.000 | kcal | 0.00329 |
| Seaweed, spirulina, dried | 0.929 | g | 290.000 | kcal | 0.00320 |
| Crustaceans, crab, alaska king, raw | 0.255 | g | 84.000 | kcal | 0.00304 |
| Soy sauce made from soy (tamari) | 0.181 | g | 60.000 | kcal | 0.00302 |
| Crustaceans, shrimp, mixed species, cooked, moist heat | 0.291 | g | 99.000 | kcal | 0.00294 |
| Crustaceans, lobster, northern, raw | 0.262 | g | 90.000 | kcal | 0.00291 |
| Crustaceans, lobster, northern, cooked, moist heat | 0.285 | g | 98.000 | kcal | 0.00291 |
| Crustaceans, crab, blue, raw | 0.251 | g | 87.000 | kcal | 0.00289 |
| Crustaceans, crab, blue, canned | 0.286 | g | 99.000 | kcal | 0.00289 |
| Soy protein isolate, PROTEIN TECHNOLOGIES INTERNATIONAL, ProPlus | 1.100 | g | 380.000 | kcal | 0.00289 |
| Quail, breast, meat only, raw | 0.354 | g | 123.000 | kcal | 0.00288 |
| Crustaceans, crayfish, mixed species, wild, raw | 0.222 | g | 77.000 | kcal | 0.00288 |
| Crustaceans, crab, queen, raw | 0.258 | g | 90.000 | kcal | 0.00287 |
| Crustaceans, crab, queen, cooked, moist heat | 0.330 | g | 115.000 | kcal | 0.00287 |
| Crustaceans, crayfish, mixed species, farmed, raw | 0.207 | g | 72.000 | kcal | 0.00287 |
| Pork, fresh, variety meats and by-products, pancreas, cooked, braised | 0.625 | g | 219.000 | kcal | 0.00285 |
| Crustaceans, crayfish, mixed species, wild, cooked, moist heat | 0.234 | g | 82.000 | kcal | 0.00285 |
| Soy protein isolate, PROTEIN TECHNOLOGIES INTERNATIONAL, SUPRO | 1.100 | g | 388.000 | kcal | 0.00284 |
| Crustaceans, crab, dungeness, cooked, moist heat | 0.311 | g | 110.000 | kcal | 0.00283 |
| Game meat, goat, cooked, roasted | 0.403 | g | 143.000 | kcal | 0.00282 |
| Crustaceans, crab, dungeness, raw | 0.242 | g | 86.000 | kcal | 0.00281 |
| Goat, raw | 0.306 | g | 109.000 | kcal | 0.00281 |
| Crustaceans, crayfish, mixed species, farmed, cooked, moist heat | 0.244 | g | 87.000 | kcal | 0.00280 |
| Crustaceans, crab, alaska king, cooked, moist heat | 0.269 | g | 97.000 | kcal | 0.00277 |
| Crustaceans, crab, blue, cooked, moist heat | 0.281 | g | 102.000 | kcal | 0.00275 |
| Game meat, caribou, raw | 0.348 | g | 127.000 | kcal | 0.00274 |
| Game meat, caribou, cooked, roasted | 0.458 | g | 167.000 | kcal | 0.00274 |
| Watercress, raw | 0.030 | g | 11.000 | kcal | 0.00273 |
| Duck, young duckling, domesticated, White Pekin, breast, meat only, boneless, cooked without skin, broiled | 0.380 | g | 140.000 | kcal | 0.00271 |
| Crustaceans, shrimp, mixed species, raw | 0.283 | g | 106.000 | kcal | 0.00267 |
| Crustaceans, shrimp, mixed species, canned | 0.321 | g | 120.000 | kcal | 0.00267 |
| Egg, white, dried | 0.999 | g | 382.000 | kcal | 0.00262 |
| Egg, white, raw, fresh | 0.130 | g | 50.000 | kcal | 0.00260 |
| Mushrooms, raw | 0.065 | g | 25.000 | kcal | 0.00260 |
| Egg, white, raw, frozen | 0.121 | g | 47.000 | kcal | 0.00257 |
| Crustaceans, spiny lobster, mixed species, cooked, moist heat | 0.368 | g | 143.000 | kcal | 0.00257 |
| MOR-NU, Tofu, silken, lite firm | 0.095 | g | 37.000 | kcal | 0.00257 |
| Crustaceans, spiny lobster, mixed species, raw | 0.287 | g | 112.000 | kcal | 0.00256 |
| Pheasant, breast, meat only, raw | 0.339 | g | 133.000 | kcal | 0.00255 |
| Turkey, fryer-roasters, light meat, meat only, raw | 0.275 | g | 108.000 | kcal | 0.00255 |
| Mushrooms, brown, Italian, or Crimini, raw | 0.056 | g | 22.000 | kcal | 0.00255 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------+-------+----------+-------+---------+
|
