As for TVP, Dr Anadi is of the opinion that eating properly cooked soya beans, the source of this processed convenience food , is a much healthier choice. She went on to make the point that plant-based protein can replace animal-based protein only in terms of quantity, not quality. The variety of essential amino acids in plant-based protein is not as great as in animal-based protein, she noted. Protein is composed of chains of different amino acids. Nine of these (some authorities put the figure at eight) are termed "essential amino acids" because they cannot be created from other compounds by the human body and so must be taken in as food.