Hemp protein amino acids

Hemp protein amino acids all come from one plant, and hemp has all nine essential ones. Compared with the World Health Organization’s adult reference, hemp is strong on most of them, including methionine and cysteine, which many plant proteins lack, and it’s naturally rich in arginine. Below is each amino acid per gram of hemp protein, side by side with the WHO reference.

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Hemp protein amino acids: Cantein Unflavored hemp protein bag

Essential amino acids · Lysine · Methionine · Non-essential · Which to buy

Essential amino acids of hemp protein

Amino acid	Vanilla / chocolate (22g protein)	Unflavored (28g protein)	Per gram of protein	WHO adult reference
Histidine	0.61g	0.76g	27–28mg	15mg
Isoleucine	0.87g	1.08g	39–40mg	30mg
Leucine	1.44g	1.80g	64–65mg	59mg
Lysine	0.73g	0.92g	33mg	45mg
Methionine	0.44g	0.55g	20mg	16mg
Phenylalanine	0.93g	1.16g	41–42mg	38mg (with tyrosine)
Threonine	0.73g	0.91g	32–33mg	23mg
Tryptophan	0.1g	0.1g	see note	6mg
Valine	1.04g	1.30g	46–47mg	39mg

Tryptophan is rounded to 0.1g on both labels and is hard to measure, so we don’t calculate a per-gram figure for it.

Lysine is hemp’s limiting amino acid

Every protein has one essential amino acid that runs out first, and for hemp it’s lysine. A Canadian study of 30 hemp seed products found lysine was the limiting amino acid in every one (House et al., 2010). Our labels agree, at about 33mg per gram of protein against a WHO reference of 45mg. You still get all nine essentials, so I just pair hemp with lysine-rich foods like beans, lentils, tofu, eggs or fish. If you avoid legumes, here are some pea protein alternatives, and you can check your daily totals with our amino acid calculator.

Hemp protein amino acids: lysine-rich foods next to hemp protein

Methionine: what the numbers say

Hemp protein has about 20mg of methionine per gram of protein, or roughly 2.0%. Gorissen et al. (2018) found plant protein powders average about 1.0% methionine and animal proteins about 2.5%, while human muscle sits around 2.0%. So hemp lines up with muscle and comes in above pea. You’ll sometimes see hemp called “low methionine,” but per gram of protein that isn’t accurate. If you’re on a methionine-restricted diet, follow your dietitian’s daily target, and don’t count on hemp being low in methionine.

Hemp protein amino acids: Cantein Unflavored nutrition facts

Non-essential amino acids

Hemp protein also has plenty of non-essential amino acids. Glutamic acid is the most abundant, followed by arginine and aspartic acid, with smaller amounts of serine, glycine, alanine, tyrosine and proline. Arginine is what makes hemp stand out. It makes up about 13% of the protein, which is high for a protein powder, and your body uses it to make nitric oxide, which helps blood vessels relax.

Hemp protein amino acids: scoop of hemp protein powder

Which to buy

Want the densest amino profile per scoop: Unflavored (28g protein). Want flavor with the same hemp amino pattern at 22g: Vanilla or Chocolate. Pair either with a lysine-rich meal if you’re counting. Compare with pea: hemp vs pea. Shop Cantein hemp protein.

Cantein vanilla, chocolate, and unflavored nutrition labels (amino acids per 35g scoop).
WHO/FAO/UNU. Protein and amino acid requirements in human nutrition. WHO Technical Report Series 935, 2007. iris.who.int/handle/10665/43411
House JD, Neufeld J, Leson G. Evaluating the quality of protein from hemp seed products. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2010. doi.org/10.1021/jf102636b
Gorissen SHM et al. Protein content and amino acid composition of commercially available plant-based protein isolates. Amino Acids, 2018. doi.org/10.1007/s00726-018-2640-5
Herreman L et al. Comprehensive overview of the quality of plant- and animal-sourced proteins based on DIAAS. Food Science & Nutrition, 2020. doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.1809