Hemp Seeds: Protein and Digestibility

Table of Contents

1. How Much Protein, and in Which Form
2. The Proteins Themselves: Edestin and Albumin
3. The Amino Acid Pattern and the Lysine Gap
4. How Protein Quality Is Scored
5. Hemp’s Measured Scores: The Rat Bioassays
6. DIAAS and Comparisons With Other Proteins
7. Dehulling, Heat and Processing
8. Allergenicity: Low, but Not Zero
9. Human Trials Using Hemp Protein
10. Hemp Peptides: Laboratory and Animal Work
11. Is Hemp a “Complete Protein”?
12. What Is Not Known
13. Who the Research Raises Concerns For
14. Connections
15. Key Research Papers
16. Featured Videos

How Much Protein, and in Which Form

The protein content of a hemp food depends heavily on which part of the seed it is made from. The most useful single set of measurements comes from House and colleagues at the University of Manitoba, who in 2010 analysed thirty commercial samples of hemp products grown in Western Canada (House 2010). Their mean values were:

• Whole hemp seed (with the hull): about 24% crude protein and 30% fat.
• Dehulled hemp seed (“hemp hearts”): about 36% protein and 47% fat.
• Hemp seed meal (the cake left after cold-pressing out the oil): about 41% protein and 10% fat.

A 2026 Romanian analysis found the same pattern: hulled seeds held about 34% crude protein against about 25% for whole seeds (Mierlita 2026). The USDA FoodData Central entry for hulled hemp seed lists 31.6 g of protein per 100 g, which is about 9.5 g in a 30 g portion of three tablespoons (USDA FDC 170148). The hull, by contrast, is mostly fibre; it dilutes the protein, and as later sections show, it also lowers how much of that protein is digested.

Hemp protein powders are made from the pressed seed cake, milled and sieved, or extracted further into concentrates and isolates. A 2023 review describes the de-oiled cake as a protein source “enriched with phenolic compounds and fiber” (Karabulut 2023). The exact protein content of a powder depends on how far it has been refined, which is one reason study results on “hemp protein” differ.

Back to Table of Contents

The Proteins Themselves: Edestin and Albumin

Seeds store protein for the seedling in a few families of storage proteins, named partly by how they settle in a centrifuge (their “S” or Svedberg value). In hemp the dominant one is edestin, an 11S globulin of the legumin type — the same broad family as the main storage proteins of peas and beans. Tang and colleagues, characterising a hemp protein isolate in 2006, identified edestin, “a kind of hexameric legumin” (a protein made of six linked units), as the major component (Tang 2006).

How much of hemp protein is edestin depends on how it is measured and extracted:

• A 2025 review gives the composition as “primarily” edestin, at 60 to 80%, with albumin making up most of the rest (Kaçar 2025).
• In an Italian laboratory study, a hemp protein isolate made from defatted hemp cake was about 86% protein, of which edestin accounted for about 70% (Mamone 2019).
• When Ajibola and Aluko separated hemp seed protein into fractions in 2022, the 11S fraction gave by far the largest yield, about 73%, against about 4% for the 2S fraction (the albumins) and about 1% for the 7S fraction (vicilin-type) (Ajibola 2022).

The albumin (2S) fraction behaves differently from edestin. In the same fractionation study it had better solubility, foaming and emulsifying properties, but a significantly lower in vitro digestibility, about 73%, than the other fractions (Ajibola 2022). Extraction method changes the mix: alkaline extraction yields a product dominated by edestin, while other techniques yield one richer in albumin (Dong 2024).

Edestin is also why hemp protein has been awkward for food manufacturers. Tang and colleagues found that the isolate was less soluble than soy protein isolate below pH 8 and had much weaker emulsifying and water-holding properties, which they attributed to edestin's high content of free sulfhydryl groups (sulfur-bearing side chains) forming disulfide bonds and making the proteins clump together (Tang 2006). Reviews from 2020 and 2023 describe the same limitation and the processing methods — ultrasound, high-pressure homogenisation, enzymes — being tested to overcome it (Leonard 2020; Karabulut 2023). These are questions of texture and cooking behaviour rather than nutrition, but they shape which hemp protein products reach the shelf.

Back to Table of Contents

The Amino Acid Pattern and the Lysine Gap

Protein is built from 20 amino acids. Nine of them are called indispensable (or essential), because the body cannot make them and has to get them from food. Hemp protein contains all nine. What matters for quality is the proportion.

• Lysine is the first limiting amino acid. “Limiting” means it is the indispensable amino acid present in the smallest amount relative to need, so it caps how much of the protein the body can use for building its own. House and colleagues found lysine was first limiting “in all products” they tested — whole seed, meal and dehulled seed (House 2010). This is typical of seeds and cereal grains; legumes, by contrast, are relatively rich in lysine. The site's lysine page covers what the amino acid does.
• Sulfur amino acids are borderline. Comparing a hemp isolate with soy protein isolate, Tang and colleagues reported that hemp had similar or higher levels of the essential amino acids except lysine, and that its essential amino acids met the FAO/WHO pattern for children aged 2 to 5 years “except lysine and sulfur-containing amino acids” — that is, methionine and cysteine (Tang 2006). Tang's isolate also had a high content of free sulfhydryl groups from its sulfur-containing amino acids, and Dong and colleagues found an isolate made by a micellisation method richer in sulfur-containing proteins than an alkali-extracted one (Tang 2006; Dong 2024), so the result depends partly on the product and on the reference pattern used.
• Arginine is high. USDA lists 4.55 g of arginine per 100 g of hulled seed (USDA FDC 170148), a large share of the total protein. Arginine is not one of the nine indispensable amino acids in adults, but it is the raw material for nitric oxide, the molecule blood vessels use to relax, and it is one reason hemp protein appears in blood-pressure research (see the arginine and nitric oxide page).
• Branched-chain amino acids. The authors of a 2024 resistance-training trial describe hemp protein as having high concentrations of the branched-chain amino acids leucine, isoleucine and valine (Kaviani 2024). The trial itself is described below.

Processing alters the profile too. A 2024 New Zealand study comparing two extraction methods and two drying methods for hemp protein isolate found that the extraction method changed the protein subunits and amino acid profile more than the drying method did (Dong 2024). In practice, a hemp protein powder's amino acid profile is a property of that product, not of “hemp” in general.

Back to Table of Contents

How Protein Quality Is Scored

Grams of protein say how much there is; they do not say how useful it is. Two scoring systems try to capture that, and the difference between them explains most of the confusion about hemp.

• PDCAAS (Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Score) compares a protein's limiting amino acid with a reference pattern for a particular age group, then multiplies by a single digestibility figure for the whole protein. That digestibility figure is traditionally measured in rats, from what is left in the faeces — across the whole gut, including the colon, where bacteria break down amino acids and make digestion look better than it is. Scores are capped at 100%.
• DIAAS (Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score) is the method recommended by an expert consultation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2013 (FAO Food and Nutrition Paper 92). It measures the digestibility of each indispensable amino acid separately at the end of the small intestine (the ileum), before the colon's bacteria interfere. Because that requires sampling from inside the gut, DIAAS values are usually measured in growing pigs or rats, or estimated. Scores are not capped. The FAO report gives a DIAAS below 75 as the range where no protein-quality claim applies, 75 to 99 as a “good” source, and 100 or more as “excellent”.
• In vitro scores imitate digestion in a test tube with digestive enzymes. They are cheaper and avoid animal use, but they need to be checked against animal measurements.

In the United States, the percentage Daily Value for protein on a food label, when it is shown, is calculated from the protein content corrected by its PDCAAS (21 CFR 101.9). That is why the House study described below explicitly set out to provide “reference data in support of protein claims for hemp seed products” (House 2010).

The page on pistachio protein and fiber walks through these methods in more detail with pistachio's pig-measured scores, a useful comparison.

Back to Table of Contents

Hemp’s Measured Scores: The Rat Bioassays

The central measurement is House, Neufeld and Leson (2010). They ran PDCAAS assays on subsets of their thirty commercial hemp products, using a rat bioassay for protein digestibility and the FAO/WHO amino acid requirement of children aged 2 to 5 years as the reference pattern. Their results:

Three points follow from those numbers:

• Digestibility is good; the amino acid pattern is what holds the score down. Rats digested between about 84% and 97% of the protein depending on the product. The scores land at roughly half to two-thirds of the reference because of the lysine shortfall, not because the protein passes through undigested.
• Removing the hull helped. The authors state that “removal of the hull fraction improved protein digestibility and the resultant PDCAAS value.” Dehulled seed scored highest of the three.
• The authors' own comparison is modest. They concluded that hemp proteins have a PDCAAS “equal to or greater than certain grains, nuts, and some pulses”. That places hemp among ordinary plant proteins, not alongside egg, milk or meat.

The same Manitoba group returned to the question in 2023 with three hemp protein sources: defatted hemp hearts and two protein-enriched hemp fractions (concentrates). Again using a rodent bioassay for growth and digestibility, they found that the true protein digestibility of one concentrate was significantly lower than that of either defatted hemp hearts or the other concentrate, and that the protein efficiency ratio (a measure of how well a protein supports growth in young rats) was lower for the other concentrate (Nosworthy 2023). They also compared their animal results with a test-tube method: in vitro and in vivo digestibility did not correlate, but the PDCAAS values calculated each way correlated closely. The abstract does not give the individual scores. The practical lesson is that two products both labelled “hemp protein” can differ measurably in quality.

Back to Table of Contents

DIAAS and Comparisons With Other Proteins

No pig or rat study measuring a DIAAS specifically for hemp seed appears in the research behind this page. The figure most often quoted comes from a 2020 overview by Herreman and colleagues, who collected published amino acid compositions and standardised ileal digestibility data for five animal and twelve plant proteins and calculated DIAAS values from them — a data compilation and calculation, not a new feeding study (Herreman 2020). Using the reference pattern for children aged 6 months to 3 years:

• pork meat, casein, egg and potato protein averaged above 100 (“excellent”);
• whey and soy protein averaged 75 or more (“high quality”);
• hemp fell in the “no quality claim” category below 75, alongside gelatin, rapeseed, lupin, canola, corn, fava bean, oat, pea and rice proteins.

Three cautions apply. The paper reports “considerable variation in DIAAS within the same protein source”, so a single hemp number hides a range. The infant-and-toddler reference pattern is the most demanding one; scores calculated against older age groups are higher. And the authors declare that they are employees of a potato-protein manufacturer. The soy figure refers to isolated soy protein, an industrial ingredient, and says nothing about whole or fermented soy foods.

The same overview modelled protein mixtures and reported that combining plant proteins at specific ratios can raise the combined DIAAS, because one protein's surplus covers another's shortfall (Herreman 2020). That is the formal version of an old observation: hemp, short in lysine, is complemented by lysine-rich foods such as legumes.

Direct head-to-head comparisons in the abstracts are few. Tang's 2006 comparison found hemp isolate similar to or higher than soy isolate in essential amino acids except lysine (Tang 2006). A 2018 Finnish analysis of minimally processed commercial plant-protein products found total essential amino acids ranging from 25.8 g per 16 g of nitrogen in oil-hemp hulls up to 41.5 g in pearled quinoa, and described nearly all the samples, hemp among them, as good sources of essential amino acids (Mattila 2018).

Back to Table of Contents

Dehulling, Heat and Processing

The hull. Every study that compared hulled and whole seed found the hull lowers protein digestibility. House and colleagues measured it in rats (House 2010). Mierlita's 2026 analysis, using an in vitro method, found protein digestibility of about 87% for hulled seed against about 78% for whole seed, and the best in vitro PDCAAS for the hulled form (Mierlita 2026). A 2022 Spanish comparison of eight whole-seed varieties and eight commercial dehulled samples found that whole seeds contain much more fibre, while dehulled seeds contain more fat and protein (Alonso-Esteban 2022). In growing pigs fed hemp hulls, the digestibility of dry matter and energy was lower than for the basal corn–soybean meal diet (Kim 2017) — consistent with the hull being mainly fibre.

The hull is not simply waste, though. Whole seeds showed stronger antioxidant activity in laboratory assays than dehulled seeds (Alonso-Esteban 2022), and the hull carries fibre and phenolic compounds being studied for other purposes (see the main hemp seeds page). Removing it trades fibre and phenolics for protein concentration and digestibility.

Heat. Edestin is a heat-stable protein: in Tang's calorimetry study it denatured (unfolded) at about 95 °C (Tang 2006). Unfolding generally exposes a protein to digestive enzymes. In a 2023 Indian study, steaming hemp seeds before dehulling improved the dehulling yield and raised in vitro protein digestibility from 86.5% to 88.7%, without affecting the fatty acid profile (Sharma 2023). That is a small change, measured in a test tube. The research behind this page holds no study of how home roasting or baking changes the protein quality of hemp seed; for pistachios, pig studies found that roasting lowered amino acid digestibility (see the pistachio protein page), so heat effects cannot be assumed to go in one direction.

Germination. Sprouting hemp seeds raised protein, fibre, mineral and antioxidant content in the 2026 Romanian analysis (Mierlita 2026).

Extraction. For powders and isolates, the extraction route changes which proteins dominate, the amino acid profile and the allergen content (Dong 2024), and the true digestibility can differ significantly between concentrates (Nosworthy 2023).

Back to Table of Contents

Allergenicity: Low, but Not Zero

Hemp protein is often marketed as hypoallergenic, and reviews describe its “low allergenicity” as one of its attractions (Karabulut 2023). Mamone and colleagues pointed out in 2019 that this belief “has never been experimentally verified” and tested it in the laboratory. Their hemp protein isolate was highly digestible in a simulated gastrointestinal model that included enzymes from the intestinal lining, and the known hemp allergens — including the major thaumatin-like protein and a lipid transfer protein (LTP) — were removed by their production process and absent after digestion (Mamone 2019). That is a test-tube finding about one isolate made by one process.

Other work points the other way for other products. A 2024 proteomics study found that alkali-extracted hemp isolate contained more potentially allergenic proteins, such as heat-shock protein 70 and triosephosphate isomerase, than an isolate made by a different method (Dong 2024). And a 2024 review of emerging causes of anaphylaxis lists seeds including hemp and chia among food allergens “on the rise”, linked to rising demand for plant-based foods (Treudler 2024). A 2025 review names thaumatin-like proteins and edestin itself as potential triggers, notes that cross-reactivity with other allergenic seeds and nuts has been reported, and states that the overall prevalence of hempseed allergy “remains poorly documented” (Kaçar 2025). The food allergy page has more on how such reactions are diagnosed.

Back to Table of Contents

Human Trials Using Hemp Protein

None of the protein-quality scores above was measured in people. The human trials that gave hemp protein at nutritionally meaningful doses are few; the ones whose abstracts were read for this page are summarised here.

Muscle and resistance training

Kaviani and colleagues in Canada randomised 34 resistance-trained young adults (22 men, 12 women) in a double-blind trial to 60 g a day of a hemp product (providing 40 g of protein and 9 g of oil) or 60 g a day of soy protein matched for protein and calories, during eight weeks of resistance training about four times a week (Kaviani 2024). The results were mixed and differed by sex:

• in women, hemp increased elbow-flexor (upper-arm) muscle thickness, from 2.6 to 3.1 cm;
• in men, the soy comparator increased elbow-flexor thickness, from 3.7 to 4.0 cm;
• in men on hemp, muscle twitch force and its rate of development were preserved after a fatigue test compared with men on soy.

The authors concluded that hemp “provides some sex-specific beneficial effects”. The abstract does not report a difference between groups in whole-body lean mass or strength. With 34 participants split by sex, the subgroups are small.

For context, a 2025 systematic review of 24 studies on plant proteins and recovery from resistance exercise, which included hemp among the sources tested, concluded that single-source plant proteins “generally offer limited benefits compared to animal proteins such as whey”, while well-formulated blends of plant proteins at doses of 30 g or more, with about 2.5 g of leucine, could stimulate muscle protein synthesis comparably to whey (Govindasamy 2025). The review notes small samples and moderate to high risk of bias across the studies. The site's leucine and muscle protein synthesis page explains why leucine content matters.

Blood pressure

The only randomised trial of hemp protein and blood pressure in people identified in the research for this page is by Samsamikor and colleagues, published in 2024 (Samsamikor 2024). In a double-blind crossover design, 35 adults with mild hypertension (systolic pressure 130 to 160 mmHg) each received, in random order, three six-week treatments separated by two-week washouts: 50 g a day of casein (milk protein, the comparator), 50 g a day of hemp seed protein, or 45 g of hemp seed protein plus 5 g of hemp-derived peptides. From a starting 24-hour average of 135.1/80.0 mmHg:

• after hemp protein alone, 24-hour pressure was 133.5/78.9 mmHg;
• after hemp protein plus peptides, it was 128.1/76.0 mmHg;
• both hemp treatments lowered plasma ACE and renin activity (two enzymes that raise blood pressure) and raised nitric oxide compared with casein.

The trial's protocol had been published in advance (Samsamikor 2020). This is one trial in 35 people, from the same research group that produced the earlier rat studies described below; it has not yet been independently repeated. The full blood-pressure evidence is on the sibling page Hemp Seeds: Heart and Blood Pressure; for the condition itself see hypertension.

Satiety and appetite

The research behind this page holds no human trial measuring the effect of hemp protein on appetite, fullness or body weight. Claims that hemp protein is especially filling are not supported by any trial read for this page.

Small-dose trials that are not protein trials

Two Iranian randomised trials in sedentary young men gave whole hemp seed at 2 g a day, in capsules or as powder, for eight weeks alongside exercise programmes (Mohammadrezaei 2022; Lame-Jouybari 2024). Two grams of seed supplies well under 1 g of protein, so whatever these trials found, they say nothing about hemp as a protein source. In the 2024 trial, hemp seed showed no significant effect on the measured antioxidant enzymes (Lame-Jouybari 2024).

Back to Table of Contents

Hemp Peptides: Laboratory and Animal Work

When proteins are digested, or broken down deliberately with enzymes in a factory (“hydrolysed”), they release short chains of amino acids called peptides. Some peptides have biological activity of their own. Hemp peptides have become a sizeable research field, reviewed in 2022, 2023 and 2024 (Aguchem 2022; Lammi 2023; Aita 2024). Almost all of it is laboratory or animal work.

• Blood pressure, in rats. Girgih and colleagues digested defatted hemp meal with the digestive enzymes pepsin and pancreatin and fed the resulting hydrolysate to spontaneously hypertensive rats (a strain bred to develop high blood pressure) as 0.5 or 1.0% of the diet. In young rats it blunted the usual rise in systolic pressure (about 120 mmHg against a maximum of 158 mmHg in rats fed casein); in adult rats it lowered systolic pressure to about 119 mmHg against 150 mmHg in controls, with lower plasma ACE and renin (Girgih 2014, Eur J Nutr). A companion paper reported higher antioxidant enzyme levels in the same rat model (Girgih 2014, Nutrients). A 2015 study from the same group compared hydrolysates made with different enzymes; given orally to hypertensive rats at 200 mg/kg, the most effective lowered systolic pressure by about 32 mmHg after 4 hours (Malomo 2015).
• Brain inflammation, in mice. A Spanish group gave a hemp protein hydrolysate orally to mice at 10 mg/kg a day for 12 weeks in a drug-induced (scopolamine) model of Alzheimer's disease; markers of inflammation and glial activation in the hippocampus fell. Two peptides were found, in a cell-culture barrier model, to cross intestinal and blood–brain barrier layers (Torrecillas-Lopez 2025). This has not been tested in people.
• Cholesterol, in cells. A review of plant peptides for cardiovascular prevention discusses hempseed peptides that lower cholesterol in laboratory models, and notes that “only few of them have been tested in vivo” (Lammi 2023).
• Do they survive digestion? In Mamone's simulated digestion model, only a limited number of hemp peptide sequences survived; those that did were precursors of potentially bioactive peptides (Mamone 2019). Surviving a test-tube gut and reaching the bloodstream in people are different questions.

The 2024 human blood-pressure trial above is the main point where this line of research has reached people, and it used a concentrated peptide preparation on top of 45 g of hemp protein — not an amount anyone would get from sprinkling seeds on food.

Back to Table of Contents

Is Hemp a “Complete Protein”?

The phrase is used in two quite different senses, and the answer depends on which one is meant.

• Contains all nine indispensable amino acids. Hemp protein does, as do almost all whole foods that contain protein. In this loose sense hemp is “complete”, and a 2021 review describes hempseed as “a valuable source of essential amino acids” (Cerino 2021).
• Supplies all nine in the proportions needed, after digestion, to meet requirements on its own. By this stricter sense — a PDCAAS of 100% or a DIAAS of 100 — hemp is not complete. In rats, dehulled hemp scored 63 to 66% and whole seed 49 to 53% against the young-child reference, with lysine limiting (House 2010), and a calculated DIAAS fell below 75 (Herreman 2020).

A score against the 2-to-5-year-old child pattern is stricter than one against an adult pattern, so the number is lower for children than it would be for adults. And single-food scores matter most when one food supplies most of a person's protein; in a mixed diet, a lysine-poor food is normally complemented by lysine-rich ones. The site's page on quinoa and the complete-protein question looks at the same issue for another plant food often given the label.

Back to Table of Contents

What Is Not Known

• No direct human measurement of digestibility. Every digestibility and quality score for hemp described here comes from rats, from calculations on pooled data, or from test-tube methods.
• No pig-measured DIAAS for hemp seed appears in the research behind this page, even though pigs are the usual model for DIAAS.
• Little on home preparation. How toasting, baking or blending into hot food changes hemp protein quality has not been measured in the studies read for this page; the one heat study used steaming as an industrial pretreatment (Sharma 2023).
• Few human trials, all small. One muscle trial with 34 participants (Kaviani 2024) and one blood-pressure trial with 35 (Samsamikor 2024). No trial on appetite or weight was found.
• Product variation. Protein content, amino acid profile, digestibility and allergen content all vary with the product and the process (Nosworthy 2023; Dong 2024), so results for one hemp protein do not necessarily transfer to another.
• The overall picture. A 2021 scoping review of hemp research from 2009 to 2019 found 18 clinical and 47 preclinical studies and concluded that evidence on hemp-specific interventions is “still preliminary” (Lim 2021). A 2025 cardiovascular review likewise notes that “clinical evidence remains limited” (Kaçar 2025).

Back to Table of Contents

Who the Research Raises Concerns For

• People with seed or food allergies. Hemp is listed among seed allergens on the rise as a cause of anaphylaxis (Treudler 2024), and some extraction methods leave more potentially allergenic proteins in an isolate than others (Dong 2024). The laboratory finding that one isolate was free of known hemp allergens (Mamone 2019) is specific to that product.
• People relying on hemp as their main protein source. Because lysine is limiting in every hemp product tested (House 2010), the research suggests hemp alone covers protein needs less efficiently than its gram count implies, especially for growing children, whose reference pattern is the most demanding.
• People on blood-pressure medicines. The one human trial found modest falls in blood pressure with 45–50 g a day of hemp protein (Samsamikor 2024). Whether that adds to the effect of medicines has not been studied; questions about combining them are for a clinician.
• Drug testing and THC. Hemp seed foods can carry trace THC from the rest of the plant. That subject, including legal limits and workplace testing, is covered on the sibling page Hemp Seeds: THC Residue and Safety.
• Advanced kidney disease. Concentrated protein powders add a large protein load, and hulled hemp seed is very high in phosphorus (USDA lists 1,650 mg per 100 g, USDA FDC 170148). Protein and phosphorus amounts in kidney disease are decisions for a renal dietitian or physician.

Back to Table of Contents

Connections

• Seeds — all seed pages on the site
• Hemp Seeds — the main topic page
• Hemp Seeds — Benefits Deep Dive — the hub for these articles
• Omega-3, Omega-6 and GLA — the other half of the seed: its fat
• Heart and Blood Pressure — the hemp protein blood-pressure trial in full
• THC Residue and Safety — trace cannabinoids and drug tests
• Hemp Seeds: Nutrient Profile — the composition table
• Pistachios: Protein and Fiber — PDCAAS and DIAAS measured in pigs
• Quinoa: Complete Protein — the same label, another plant
• Pumpkin Seeds — another protein-dense seed
• Lysine — hemp's limiting amino acid
• Arginine — unusually high in hemp
• Methionine — a sulfur amino acid near the limit
• Leucine — the amino acid behind muscle protein synthesis
• Hypertension — the condition in the hemp protein trial
• Food Allergy — seed allergens in context

Back to Table of Contents

Key Research Papers

1. House JD, Neufeld J, Leson G. Evaluating the quality of protein from hemp seed (Cannabis sativa L.) products through the use of the protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score method. J Agric Food Chem. 2010;58(22):11801-7. PubMed PMID: 20977230
2. Nosworthy MG, Franczyk A, Neufeld J, House JD. The in vivo and in vitro protein quality of three hemp protein sources. Food Sci Nutr. 2023;11(11):7264-7270. PubMed PMID: 37970413
3. Herreman L, Nommensen P, Pennings B, Laus MC. Comprehensive overview of the quality of plant- And animal-sourced proteins based on the digestible indispensable amino acid score. Food Sci Nutr. 2020;8(10):5379-5391. PubMed PMID: 33133540
4. Tang CH, Ten Z, Wang XS, Yang XQ. Physicochemical and functional properties of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) protein isolate. J Agric Food Chem. 2006;54(23):8945-50. PubMed PMID: 17090145
5. Mamone G, Picariello G, Ramondo A, Nicolai MA, Ferranti P. Production, digestibility and allergenicity of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) protein isolates. Food Res Int. 2019;115:562-571. PubMed PMID: 30599980
6. Ajibola CF, Aluko RE. Physicochemical and Functional Properties of 2S, 7S, and 11S Enriched Hemp Seed Protein Fractions. Molecules. 2022;27(3):1059. PubMed PMID: 35164322
7. Dong X, Rawiwan P, Middleditch M, Guo G, Woo MW, Quek SY. Effects of protein variations by different extraction and dehydration approaches on hempseed protein isolate: Protein pattern, amino acid profiling and label-free proteomics. Food Chemistry. 2024;460(Pt 1):140426. PubMed PMID: 39047496
8. Mierlita D. Assessment of nutritional and functional profile of whole, hulled and germinated hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) seeds. Front Nutr. 2026;13:1825902. PubMed PMID: 42099769
9. Sharma S, Tamilselvan T, Shakeb M, Prabhasankar P. Hydrothermal treatment of hemp seeds (Cannabis sativa L.): impact on its dehulling yield, fatty acid profile and nutritional characteristics. J Sci Food Agric. 2023;103(5):2681-2689. PubMed PMID: 36350071
10. Alonso-Esteban JI, Pinela J, Ćirić A, Calhelha RC, Soković M, Ferreira ICFR, Barros L, Torija-Isasa E, Sánchez-Mata MC. Chemical composition and biological activities of whole and dehulled hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) seeds. Food Chem. 2022;374:131754. PubMed PMID: 34891087
11. Mattila P, Mäkinen S, Eurola M, Jalava T, Pihlava JM, Hellström J, Pihlanto A. Nutritional Value of Commercial Protein-Rich Plant Products. Plant Foods Hum Nutr. 2018;73(2):108-115. PubMed PMID: 29500810
12. Kim JW, Nyachoti CM. Net energy of hemp hulls and processed hemp hull products fed to growing pigs and the comparison of net energy determined via indirect calorimetry and calculated from prediction equations. Journal of animal science. 2017;95(6):2649-2657. PubMed PMID: 28727050
13. Kaviani M, Shaw KA, Candow DG, Farthing JP, Chilibeck PD. Effects of hemp supplementation during resistance training in trained young adults. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2024;124(4):1097-1107. PubMed PMID: 37847288
14. Govindasamy K, Parpa K, Katanic B, Clark CCT, Elayaraja M, Kambitta Valappil IN, Dulceanu C, Geană VA, Tolan GA, Zouhal H. Effect of Plant-Based Proteins on Recovery from Resistance Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage in Healthy Young Adults-A Systematic Review. Nutrients. 2025;17(15):2571. PubMed PMID: 40806155
15. Samsamikor M, Mackay DS, Mollard RC, Alashi AM, Aluko RE. Hemp seed protein and its hydrolysate compared with casein protein consumption in adults with hypertension: a double-blind crossover study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2024;120(1):56-65. PubMed PMID: 38710445
16. Samsamikor M, Mackay D, Mollard RC, Aluko RE. A double-blind, randomized, crossover trial protocol of whole hemp seed protein and hemp seed protein hydrolysate consumption for hypertension. Trials. 2020;21(1):354. PubMed PMID: 32326966
17. Girgih AT, Alashi A, He R, Malomo S, Aluko RE. Preventive and treatment effects of a hemp seed (Cannabis sativa L.) meal protein hydrolysate against high blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Eur J Nutr. 2014;53(5):1237-46. PubMed PMID: 24292743
18. Girgih AT, Alashi AM, He R, Malomo SA, Raj P, Netticadan T, Aluko RE. A novel hemp seed meal protein hydrolysate reduces oxidative stress factors in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Nutrients. 2014;6(12):5652-66. PubMed PMID: 25493943
19. Malomo SA, Onuh JO, Girgih AT, Aluko RE. Structural and Antihypertensive Properties of Enzymatic Hemp Seed Protein Hydrolysates. Nutrients. 2015;7(9):7616-32. PubMed PMID: 26378569
20. Torrecillas-Lopez M, Claro-Cala CM, Gonzalez-de la Rosa T, et al. Neuroavailable peptides from hempseed protein hydrolysates reduce hippocampal inflammation and glial activation in a scopolamine-induced Alzheimer's disease. Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie. 2025;191:118438. PubMed PMID: 40916308
21. Aita SE, Montone CM, Taglioni E, et al. Hempseed protein-derived short- and medium-chain peptides and their multifunctional properties. Advances in food and nutrition research. 2024;110:275-325. PubMed PMID: 38906589
22. Aguchem RN, Okagu IU, Okagu OD, et al. A review on the techno-functional, biological, and health-promoting properties of hempseed-derived proteins and peptides. Journal of food biochemistry. 2022;46(7):e14127. PubMed PMID: 35312074
23. Lammi C. Plant bioactive peptides for cardiovascular disease prevention. Advances in food and nutrition research. 2023;106:219-239. PubMed PMID: 37722773
24. Karabulut G, Kahraman O, Pandalaneni K, et al. A comprehensive review on hempseed protein: Production, functional and nutritional properties, novel modification methods, applications, and limitations. International journal of biological macromolecules. 2023;253(Pt 7):127240. PubMed PMID: 37806421
25. Leonard W, Zhang P, Ying D, et al. Hempseed in food industry: Nutritional value, health benefits, and industrial applications. Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety. 2020;19(1):282-308. PubMed PMID: 33319519
26. Kaçar ÖF, Kose T, Kaya Kaçar H. Dietary hempseed and cardiovascular health: nutritional composition, mechanisms and comparison with other seeds. Frontiers in nutrition. 2025;12:1669375. PubMed PMID: 41132555
27. Cerino P, Buonerba C, Cannazza G, et al. A Review of Hemp as Food and Nutritional Supplement. Cannabis and cannabinoid research. 2021;6(1):19-27. PubMed PMID: 33614949
28. Lim XY, Tan TYC, Muhd Rosli SH, et al. Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa's pharmacological properties and health effects: A scoping review of current evidence. PloS one. 2021;16(1):e0245471. PubMed PMID: 33465140
29. Treudler R. Emerging and Novel Elicitors of Anaphylaxis: Collegium Internationale Allergologicum Update 2024. Int Arch Allergy Immunol. 2024;185(8):794-802. PubMed PMID: 38527454
30. Mohammadrezaei A, Kavakeb A, Abbasalizad-Farhangi M, et al. Effects of hemp seed alone and combined with aerobic exercise on metabolic parameters, oxidative stress, and neurotrophic factors in young sedentary men. Journal of food biochemistry. 2022;46(12):e14417. PubMed PMID: 36114824
31. Lame-Jouybari AH, Abbasalizad-Farhangi M. Effects of eight-week regular high-intensity interval training and hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) seed on total testosterone level among sedentary young males: double-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial. Endocrine. 2024;84(1):273-286. PubMed PMID: 38085421

PubMed Topic Searches

1. PubMed: hemp protein quality scores (PDCAAS, DIAAS)
2. PubMed: edestin and hemp seed storage proteins
3. PubMed: dehulling and hemp protein digestibility
4. PubMed: hemp protein hydrolysates and peptides
5. PubMed: hemp protein in randomised trials

Back to Table of Contents

Featured Videos