My contribution to the Sphere Project via the UNFAO Food Security & Nutrition Forum

The Sphere Project
http://www.sphereproject.org/content/view/461/251/lang,english/

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Two of the three micronutrients* widely recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as limiting: iron, zinc, and vitamin A (beta-carotene) are present in hempseed, it's the best available source of vegetable protein, essential fatty acids, and all of the essential amino acids, and yet it's not even mentioned in the Sphere Handbook.

*Hemp Seed Nutrition (hulled hemp seeds)

Calories/100 g 567
Protein 30.6
Carbohydrate 10.9
Dietary fiber 6
Fat 47.2
Saturated fat 5.2
Monounsaturated fat 5.8
Oleic 18:1 (Omega-9) 5.8
Polyunsaturated fat 36.2
Linoleic 18:2 (Omega-6) 27.6
Linolenic 18:3 (Omega-3) 8.7
Linolenic 18:3 (Omega-6) 0.8
Cholesterol 0 mg
*Vitamin A (B-Carotene) 4 IU
Thiamine (Vit B1) 1 mg
Riboflavin (Vit B2) 1 mg
Vitamin C 1.0 mg
Vitamin E 9 IU
Sodium 9 mg
Calcium 74 mg
*Iron 4.7 mg

Regarding human protein requirement: "Qualitively, it is considered desirable to secure amino acids similar to those of human tissues, both as to kinds and relative quantities of the various kinds." [Textbook of Anatomy and Physiology, Kimber, Gray, Stackpole, 1943]

During digestion proteins in food are broken down into amino acids. The amino acids are then taken into the body and reassembled into human proteins according to need and the availability of the amino acids necessary to make specific proteins.

The body needs the necessary kinds of amino acids in sufficient quantity in order to make proteins such as the globulins. Proper quantities of the right kinds may not be available to the body much of the time. So even though the body has enough essential amino acids available to prevent deficiency diseases, it may not have enough to build quantities of immunoglobulins necessary for the immune system to repel infection.

The best way to insure the body has enough amino acid material to make the globulins is to eat foods high in globulin proteins. Since hemp seed protein is 65% globulin edistin, and also includes quantities of albumin, its protein is readily available in a form quite similar to that found in blood plasma. Eating hemp seeds gives the body all the essential amino acids required to maintain health, and provides the necessary kinds and amounts of amino acids the body needs to make human serum albumin and serum globulins like the immune enhancing gamma globulins.

Eating hemp seeds could aid, if not heal, people suffering from immune deficiency diseases. This conclusion is supported by the fact that hemp seed was used to treat nutritional deficiencies brought on by tuberculosis, a severe nutrition blocking disease that causes the body to waste away. [Czechoslovakia Tubercular Nutritional Study, 1955]

HEMP SEED: THE MOST NUTRITIONALLY
COMPLETE FOOD SOURCE IN THE WORLD
Part One
by Lynn Osburn
Hemp Line Journal, July-August 1992, pp. 14-15, Vol. I No. 1
http://www.ratical.org/renewables/hempseed1.html