Amino Acids & Interesting Facts!

                                                                           WOW!

Now that I’ve finished with posting the previous blog, I was wondering which the essential amino acids are, so I found some interesting facts which could be helpful for me and for others to read!

So, as we already said, an amino acid is a basic unit of proteins-without them, proteins cannot be synthesized properly. Amino acids regarded as essential are essential because our body cannot create them, which makes them essential to be included in someone's diet in order to obtain them (The body cannot make these amino acids, they must come from food or amino acid supplements.) They are given in the table below. (These are the values that I took from the site http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/food/amino-acids-summary.htm)

I have also found another table that gives different values for a daily intake- which is recommended by World Health Organization (WHO).

If any of these amino acids would be missing, this would be a limiting factor in protein synthesis, so, although we can synthesize some of these amino acids from other substrates, we should intake them either through food or supplements!

Since amino acids are very important for maintaining good health, you should learn as much as you can about them! AND BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU’RE EATING, FOLKS!

This is something I’ve found interesting to read:

Protein from animal sources, such as meat and milk, is called complete, because it contains all nine of the essential amino acids. Most vegetable protein is considered incomplete because it lacks one or more of the essential amino acids. This can be a concern for someone who doesn't eat meat or milk products. But people who eat a vegetarian diet can still get all their essential amino acids by eating a wide variety of protein-rich vegetable foods.For instance, you can't get all the amino acids you need from peanuts alone, but if you have peanut butter on whole-grain bread, you're set. Likewise, red beans won't give you everything you need, but red beans and rice will do the trick.

The good news is that you don't have to eat all the essential amino acids in every meal. As long as you have a variety of protein sources throughout the day, your body will grab what it needs from each meal (source http://kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/protein.html#)

(This is a helpful site to learn about genetics: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/tour/ )