Biological value (BV) is a measure of how efficiently an ingested protein is used for the synthesis of new proteins in the body. Biologists define BV as the percentage ratio of absorbed nitrogen to ingested nitrogen. It reflects how well the body uses protein after digestion and absorption.
Calculating BV is essential in nutritional science, as it helps determine the quality of different proteins. Animal proteins generally have higher BVs than plant proteins. For instance, the BV of whey protein is 104, while the BV of pea protein is 78.