About Amino Acids And Their Importance

Anyone who takes any interest in nutrition and improving health through, for example, natural dietary supplements will almost certainly come across a mention of amino acids. Articles or promotional literature tell you how important amino acids are and how a product ‘contains all the amino acids you need.’

So what are amino acids and why are they important?

Protein is the most common substance in the human body after water. The body’s muscles, organs and functions all rely on proteins to function at all as do tissues, enzymes and antibodies. A lack of this important substance will result in a person feeling run down, suffering from more illnesses and perhaps suffering muscle atrophy. Protein is created from amino acids, each different protein needing a different combination.

Some amino acids rely on the food we digest and so are absorbed through the wall of the large intestine. They then form large molecules known as peptides or polypeptides. It is these molecules that then create the proteins. Amino acids can thus be described as the building blocks of protein.

In total there are twenty amino acids, separated into essential and non-essential. In fact both sets are required for optimum health, the two groups indicate those that are gained from outside the body (essential) and those manufactured from other chemicals within the human body (non-essential). Every one has different features and advantages.

One example of an essential amino acid is Histidine, which is very useful. Histidine is essential to the lowering of blood pressure, removing heavy metals from the body, helping the growth and repair of tissues, protecting the outer shell of nerve cells and producing blood cells. It is used to combat ulcers, rheumatoid arthritis, anaemia, ulcers and allergies. Histidine is an important constituent of haemoglobin.

The remaining essential amino acids are valine, leucine, tryptophan, isoleucine, threonine, lysine, phenylalanine and methoinine. Three of these (valine, isoleucine and leucine) are vital, as they comprise thirty percent of the body’s skeletal muscle. The other benefits of essential amino acids are varied and include the control of blood sugars, preventing certain mental problems, producing collagen, detoxifying the body and the repair of muscle, skin and bones.

Of the non-essential amino acids, glutamine is possibly the best known with arginine, glutamic acid, proline, cysteine, tyrosine, glycine, serine, alanine, aspartic acid and asparagine making up the others. Again, their benefits are wide-ranging and include repairing cartilage, affecting our moods, reducing the loss of collagen, helping the correct functioning of the heart, assisting in the formation of cells and DNA, boosting the immune system and strengthening joints, tendons and heart tissue.

As they build the vital proteins in our bodies, it is clear amino acids are themselves very important to our health. It is completely understandable why they are mentioned so much in health advice and why it is so important to keep their level maintained through, for example, natural dietary supplements.

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