In this LAB note
Question · Hypothesis · Method · Results · What Failed · What We Learned · What Changed at MOMS
Question
Is chicken an ingredient choice in our recipes or a body-type rule, and can its 1.3-point Score lead be credited to the chicken at all?
Hypothesis
We expected chicken to behave like any other protein option: spread across several body types and sitting in higher-protein recipes, because animal proteins are more digestible and richer in leucine than most plant proteins (van Vliet et al., 2015). If the Score rewards that, chicken recipes should score higher in every body type that uses chicken, not just overall.
Method
We counted chicken in the protein slot across all 201 recipes in the recipe database, split the count by body-type code, and compared chicken recipes with the rest on protein, fat, fiber, calories and Score. Wherever chicken and body type could be pulled apart, we compared inside a single body type. The published background is van Vliet, Burd and van Loon (2015), a review of how plant and animal proteins differ in muscle-building response. It attributes the gap to lower digestibility and lower leucine content in plant proteins, which is why we expected chicken to matter. It does not test chicken in shakes, and nothing in it predicts our Score.
Results
Chicken appears in 52 of 201 recipes. It is in 26 of 26 recipes for body type WAY, 24 of 24 for WAI, and 2 of 25 for WI. It is in none of the remaining 126 recipes across the other five body types. So 50 of 52 chicken recipes sit in two body types, and inside those two it is in every recipe. Chicken recipes average 34.5 g of protein against 32.5 g for the 151 recipes outside WAY and WAI, and a Score of 15.96 against 14.64, a lead of about 1.3 points. But the 50 WAY and WAI recipes as a group average 16.0. The chicken lead and the body-type lead are the same number. The portions repeat: chicken is 60 g in 17 of the 52 recipes and 90 g in 20. WAI-W3-NUTR-001-V1 (Antioxidant Glow) uses 90 g chicken as its only protein-slot ingredient, with 195 ml soy milk, 58.5 g sweet potato, apple, carrot and 9 g pecan: 36.5 g protein, 374.4 kcal, 13.5 g fat, 6.0 g fiber, Score 20. WAY-W2-COOL-001-V1 (Cool Cleanse) also uses 90 g chicken alone, with 150 ml oat milk, sweet potato, taro, mango and pecan: 32.0 g protein, 393.5 kcal, 10.0 g fat, 7.3 g fiber, Score 18. The same 90 g of chicken sits in shakes 4.5 g of protein apart, so the rest of the recipe is doing real work. Chicken recipes also carry more fat (12.6 g against 9.4 g), less fiber (6.9 g against 7.8 g) and fewer protein-slot ingredients (1.8 against 2.5 on average). In 21 of the 52, chicken is the only protein-slot ingredient.
What Failed
The Score lead cannot be credited to chicken. There is no chicken-free recipe in WAY or WAI, so inside those two body types chicken and body type are the same variable. The only place they separate is WI, and there the evidence is two recipes. WI-W1-VITAL-011-V1 (Luminous Charge: chicken 45 g, Greek yogurt 117 g, 30.9 g protein) scores 17. WI-W4-RENEWAL-008-V1 (Dawnlight Renew: chicken 60 g, Greek yogurt 96 g, 32.1 g protein) scores 13. Their average, 15.0, matches the 15.04 average of WI's 23 chicken-free recipes. Two recipes prove nothing, but they show no chicken effect either. Scores for chicken recipes run from 12 to 20, and so do scores for WAY and WAI combined. Our hypothesis that chicken would show up across several body types also failed outright: it never did.
What We Learned
In our database, chicken is not a free ingredient choice. It is a constraint attached to two body types. Any chicken effect on protein or Score is really a WAY and WAI effect, and the current recipes cannot separate the two. The broader lesson is that an ingredient found in all or none of a body type's recipes is a marker for that body type, not a finding about the ingredient.
What Changed at MOMS
When we compare ingredients on Score or protein, we now report body-type coverage next to each ingredient and label any ingredient that is in all or none of a body type's recipes as a body-type marker rather than an ingredient result. For the next WAY and WAI reformulation we plan to add one chicken-free test recipe per body type, so chicken can be compared inside a body type for the first time.
References
van Vliet S, Burd NA, van Loon LJC. The skeletal muscle anabolic response to plant- versus animal-based protein consumption. Journal of Nutrition. 2015;145(9):1981-1991. doi:10.3945/jn.114.204305
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