Unlike other foods we eat, bird's nest is mostly whole-cell food, which is rich in all kinds of raw materials needed for organic life. In terms of nutritional value, bird's nest is just a low-grade food with limited nutrition.
Bird's Nest contains 50% protein, 30% carbohydrate, 5% iron, 3% other minerals and 0/.4% cellulose. Protein of bird's nest is mainly mucin secreted by epithelial cells (in other words, saliva), which only contains 1 essential amino acid (lysine) and 3 conditionally essential amino acids (some people lack it).
The human body needs 8 kinds of essential amino acids, 13 kinds of conditionally essential amino acid. Therefore, the protein nutritional value of bird's nest is extremely low, which has been confirmed by animal experiments. Feeding mice with bird's nest and another single food will lead to protein malnutrition. In other words, the nutritional value of bird's nest protein lies in quantity, not quality. However, people usually only eat occasionally. Therefore, the nutritional value of bird's nest in protein is far less than that of meat, soybeans and other high-protein foods.