Amino Acids- What are Amino Acids - What Do Amino Acids Do.| Amino Acids Benefits | What Are Essential And Non-Essential Amino Acids|

Hey Guys ...In this nutritional journey we're going to enter the wonderful world of amino acids..

We're going to get exactly what they are, what they do and foods that are rich in amino acids.

we're going to start by looking at the molecular structure of a typical amino acid.

Amino Acids- What are Amino Acids - What Do Amino Acids Do.| Amino Acids Benefits | What Are Essential And Non-Essential Amino Acids|

Don't worry I'm going to make this easy to understand..

So the basic structure of amino acids is that they consist of a carboxyl group a lone hydrogen atom an amino group and a sidechain.

The sidechain is often referred to as the R group.

The formation of the sidechain is what makes amino acids different from one another.

As you can see in the above diagram those four are all connected to a carbon atom which is referred to as the alpha carbon.

Now not every amino acid follows this exact structure but most do.

I have three different amino acids lysine

tryptophan

and leucine

you can see that each has a carboxyl group an alpha carbon an amino group and an R group that is different from one another.

Amino Acids- What are Amino Acids - What Do Amino Acids Do.| Amino Acids Benefits | What Are Essential And Non-Essential Amino Acids|

There are a total of 23 amino acids that are proteinogenic. Proteinogenic amino acids are precursors to proteins which means that they are compounds that participate in a chemical reaction to produce another compound.

Of these 23 amino acids 20 of them are called standard amino acids and the other three are non standard amino acids these are listed on the screen in this article.

We're going to focus on the standard amino acids as they are what make up proteins these amino acids can be classified many different ways we're going to classify them in a basic nutritional way essential and non-essential essential.

Amino acids cannot be made by the body so they must come from foods we eat.

Non-essential amino acids or amino acids that our bodies can produce even if we don't get them from the food we eat.

There are nine essential and eleven non-essential amino acids.

I've listed them on the screen above.

So how do amino acids form proteins????

Well proteins are built from the 20 standard amino acids, the first thing that happens is that two amino acids come together to form what's called a peptide bond.

A peptide bond is when the carboxyl group of one amino acid bonds with the amino group of another amino acid.

If you notice two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom have been removed from the peptide binding process.

So the peptide binding results in the release of a water molecule h2o but we're not finished more amino acids can link in and form what's called a polypeptide chain.

Some proteins are single polypeptide chains and other proteins have polypeptide chains linked together.

Keep in mind that not all protein contains all twenty of the standard amino acids.

Proteins are often labeled as complete or incomplete protein.

A complete protein is a protein source that contains a sufficient quantity of all nine of the essential amino acids that we discussed earlier an incomplete protein does not contain a sufficient quantity of all nine of the essential amino acids.

Complete protein foods include animal foods such as red meat poultry,pork and fish, eggs and dairy products such as cow's milk yogurt and cheese. Plant foods such as soy products, black beans kidney beans, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, pistachios.

You can also combine incomplete protein foods to create a complete protein meal or to get the essential amino acids throughout the day amino acids also make up most enzymes.

These enzymes are proteins so they are made by linking amino acids together in a specific and unique order, this chain of amino acids then forms a unique shape that allows the enzyme created to serve a single specific purpose.

Enzymes function is catalysts which means that they speed up the rate at which metabolic processes and reactions occur.

Amino acids can also be metabolized for energy.

Some hormones like epinephrine also known as adrenaline are amino acid derived some neurotransmitters like serotonin are derived from amino acids, the amino acid arginine is a precursor of nitric oxide which helps regulate blood pressure, improve sleep quality and increases endurance and strength.

Glutathione which is a powerful antioxidant is also formed from amino acids.

"As you can see amino acids have many important roles in the body your focus should be on eating a balanced diet that includes foods that have an adequate amount of the essential amino acids.

A great approach eat a variety of foods every single day".

All right if you have any questions or comments you can leave them below.