Types of Amino Acids: Essential Amino Acids (EAAs);

Semiessential Amino Acids

What are They?
Amino acids are the chemical units or "building blocks," as
they are popularly called, that make up protein . To
understand how vital amino acids are, one must understand
how essential proteins are to life. It is protein that provides
the structure for all living things. Every living organism,
from the largest animal to the tinniest microbe, is composed
of protein. And in its various forms, protein participates in
the vital chemical processes that sustain life.
Proteins are a necessary part of every living cell in the
body. Next to water, protein makes up the greatest portion
of our body weight. In the human body, protein substances
make up the muscles, ligaments, tendons, organs, glands,
nails, hair, and many vital body fluids, and are essential for
the growth, repair and healing of bones, tissues and cells.
The enzymes and hormones that catalyze and regulate all
bodily processes are proteins. Proteins help regulate the
body's water balance and maintain the proper internal pH.
They assist in the exchange of nutrients between the
intracellular fluids and the tissues, blood, and lymph. They
help provide energy. A deficiency of protein can upset the
body's fluid balance, causing edema (water retention).
Proteins form the structural basis of chromosomes, through
which genetic information is passed from parents to
offspring. The genetic "code" contained in each cell's DNA
is actually information for how to make that cell's protein.
Each of these individual functions would make the intake of
the appropriate level of amino acids a priority, and
collectively their roles in the repair and maintenance of a
healthy and well running body biosystem make them vital.
Diets that are not balanced or that are high in empty
carbohydrates can become protein (and amino acid)
deficient. If our diet doesn't supply an adequate amount, the
body draws on its own tissue proteins. Because the body
can't store amino acids it will break down its own protein
structure, including healthy muscle, to meet the need for
single amino acids. Most of us assume that we are getting
plenty of amino acids from the food we eat, but in reality we
may not be. Dr. Eric Braverman, author and researcher at
Princeton Brain Bio Center, notes: We often do not realize
our need for amino acids, because we are not aware of how
busy the human body is. Every second the bone marrow
makes 2.5 million red cells. Every four days the lining of the
gastrointestinal tract and the blood platelets are replaced
Most of the white cells are replaced in ten days. A person
has the equivalent of new skin in twenty-four days and bone
collagen in thirty years. All this continuous repair work
requires amino acids.
Proteins are chains of amino acids linked together. Each
individual type of protein is composed of a specific group of
amino acids in a specific chemical arrangement. It is the
particular amino acids present and the way in which they
are linked together in sequence that gives the proteins that
make up the various tissues their unique functions and
characters. Each protein in the body is tailored for a
specific need, proteins are not interchangeable.
The body cannot directly use proteins found in food. The
proteins that make the human body are not obtained
directly from the diet. Rather, dietary protein is broken down
into its constituent amino acids, which the body then uses
to build the different specific proteins it needs. Thus, it is
the amino acids rather than protein that are the essential
nutrients.
In addition to combining to form the body's proteins, some
amino acids act as neurotransmitters or as precursors of
neurotransmitters, the chemicals that carry information from
one nerve cell to another. Certain amino acids are thus
necessary for the brain to receive and send messages.
Unlike many other substances, neurotransmitters are able
to pass though the blood-brain barrier. Because certain
amino acids can pass through this barrier, they can be used
the brain to communicate with nerve cells elsewhere in the
body.
Amino acids also enable vitamins and minerals to perform
their jobs properly. Even if vitamins and minerals are
absorbed and assimilated the body, they can not be
effective unless the necessary amino acids are present. For
example, low levels of the amino acid tyrosine may lead to
iron deficiency. Deficiency and/or impaired metabolism of
the amino acids methionine and taurine has been linked to
allergies and autoimmune disorders. Many elderly people
suffer from depression or neurological problems that may be
associated with deficiencies of the amino acid tyrosine,
tryptophan, phenilanine, and histidine, and also of the
branched-chain amino acids - valine, isoleucine, and
leucine. These are amino acids that can be used to provide
energy directly to muscle tissue. High doses of branched-
chain amino acids have been used in hospitals to treat
people suffering from trauma and infection.
The Essential and Non-Essential Amino Acids
There are approximately twenty-eight commonly known
amino acids that are combined in various ways to create
150 or more other intermediates inside the body as well as
the more than 40.000 proteins known so far to science. The
essential amino acids are those that the body cannot
synthesize in sufficient quantities to satisfy the nutritional
requirements for good health and that they must be included
in the diet. The nine essential amino acids are HISTIDINE ,
ISOLEUCINE , LEUCINE , LYSINE , METHIONINE ,
PHENYLALANINE, THREONINE, TRYPTOPHAN and VALINE;
their best sources are meat, fish, fowl, eggs and dairy
products. In addition, CYSTEINE (cystine) and TYROSINE,
sometimes classified as NONESSENTIAL AMINO ACIDS, are
now considered semiessential because if the diet contains
them (meat, milk, fish, poultry and legumes are good
sources), the body can use them in place of two essential
amino acids methionine and phenylalanine, respectively to
make protein. The nonessential amino acids are ALANINE ,
ARGININE, ASPARAGINE, ASPARTIC ACID, GLUTAMIC ACID ,
GLUTAMINE , GLYCINE, PROLINE, SERINE and TAURINE .
The processes of assembling amino acids to make proteins,
and of breaking down proteins into individual amino acids
for the body's use, are continuous ones. When we need
more enzyme proteins, the body produces more enzyme
proteins; when we need more cells, the body produces more
proteins for cells. These different types of proteins are
produced from amino acids as the need arises. Should the
body become depleted of its reserve of any of the essential
amino acids, it would not be able to produce the proteins
that require those amino acids. If even one essential amino
acid is missing, the body can not continue proper protein
synthesis. This can lead to lack of vital proteins in the body,
which can cause problems ranging from indigestion to
depression to stunted growth.
How could such a situation occur? More easily than one
might think. Many factors can contribute to deficiencies of
essential amino acids, even if you eat a very well balanced
diet that contains enough protein. Impaired absorption,
infection, trauma, stress, drug use, age, and imbalances of
other nutrients can all affect the availability of essential
amino acids in the body.
Some of the effects of a diet deficient in amino acids
include: Reduced energy levels, metabolism, sleeping
disorders, chronic fatigue, digestive problems, hair loss and
skin ailments, nervous reactions, emotional upset, stress
and general poor health. Other possibly life-threatening
symptoms of amino acids deficiency include obesity,
malnutrition, and buildup of wastes in the bloodstream. All
of these effects can be extremely detrimental to an
individual's well-being, so a balanced intake of amino acids
becomes extremely important.
Because of their essential functions amino acids are vital
and it makes good sense to supplement the diet with a
quality amino acid complex.



What Does Amino Acids Do For The Body?
Photo credit: Foter.com / Public domain
There are 20 kinds of amino acids found in our bodies.
These are made up of essential and non-essential amino
acids. Essential amino acids mean that they should be
an essential part of your diet as they are not naturally
produced by our bodies. Non-essential amino acids are
naturally produced by our bodies so you dont need to
consume them.
There are 8 different types of essential amino acids, so
there are 12 different types of non-essential amino
acids. Essential amino acids play many different roles
in your body including controlling insulin, and
maintaining healthy hair, skin, and nails. They are the
basic building blocks of the human body.
A deficiency in amino acids can lead to reduced
energy levels and metabolism, skin and hair loss,
digestive problems, sleeping disorders, stress, and
poor health in general . Getting all the required
essential amino acids also helps to control obesity and
malnutrition, and also helps to remove waste from the
bloodstream.
Meat, eggs, and fish are all high in amino acids, but it
can still be difficult to incorporate enough of these
foods into a daily diet, especially for vegetarians and
vegans. Supplements are another great way to get the
required essential amino acids. A supplement like
Amino 3000 is a high quality blend of both essential
and non-essential amino acids. Its a practical and
convenient way to make sure your body has the
essential amino acids it needs in order to build proteins
and regulate other bodily functions.
Amino Acids
BCAAs (branched chain
amino acids) for example are a type of essential amino
acids. BCAAs consist of leucine, isoleucine and valine.
Leucine helps to increase blood, increase metabolism,
and increase your bodys ability to rebuild and repair
muscle tissue. Leucine cant be absorbed by our bodies
without the help of the other two amino acids
isoleucine and valine. A combination of these three
amino acids are absorbed directly into the muscle and
converted to energy, which helps to prevent the break
down of muscle tissue.
The remaining essential amino acids are histidine,
methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, and trytophan.
Its important to get all of these essential amino acids.
When one or more of these essential amino acids are
missing, our bodies cant produce the proteins required
for our body to use.



Amino acids. What role do they play in muscle building,
weight loss and fitness? Learn what aminos are an how the
effect your body.
Why do
the
majority
of people
who go
to the
gym to
build
muscle
know so
little of
amino
acids
and
protein,
and their
importance in achieving our goal of muscle building? Amino
acids; everyone has heard of them, protein powders list
them. So what is the importance of them? Do we really need
them?
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and also
muscle tissue. And they also play a major part in
physiological processes relating to our energy, recovery,
mood, brain function, muscle and strength gains, and also in
our quest for fat loss.
There are 23 amino acids and 9 of these are classed as
essential or indispensable amino acids (IAA) that must be
obtained from our nutritional intake. The others are termed
dispensable amino acids (DAA) or non-essential due to the
body being able to synthesise them from other amino acids.
When we eat a meal we don't pay much attention to the
content and balance of amino acids but the content of the
meal determines the body and health building value of the
protein food or supplement. In addition the importance of
the amino acids content of our meal is important to support
maximum growth we also have to take another factor into
account which is to what extent these amino acids are
actually delivered to the tissues when they are needed
which takes us to the issues of digestion, absorption and
also the bioavailability.
What is Bioavailability?
Eating our protein foods such as lean meats and non-fat
dairy products, or having our protein drinks are the most
common ways that we get our amino acids, we also can
obtain amino acids from vegetables, and legumes also have
levels of most amino acids. We can also use protein drinks
and amino acid supplements as a convenient means to
supplement our dietary needs.
The reason we use these supplements is the bioavailability
of the amino acids. Bioavailability is a measure of the
efficiency of delivery and how much of what is ingested is
used for its intended use by the body. There are factors
which determine the amino acid bioavailability. One is how
much fat is contained in the protein source and the length of
time it takes for the amino acids to be available for use by
the body.
Cooking also can affect the amino acids; some are more or
less sensitive to heat and cooking may cause
decomposition of some amino acids. The physical nature of
the particular food is also a factor, whether it is solid, liquid,
powder, or even tablet, and to what extent it is chemically
pre-digested as some amino acid supplements are, fillers
and binders also can have an affect on the digestion of the
amino acid. The condition of our digestive system can also
have an affect on amino acid digestion, genetics, age,
health, specific diseases and illnesses all have an affect on
our digestion.
Amino acids and Bodybuilding.
Exercise, hormones and nutrients will all cause muscle
growth. As will supplementation of free form amino acids
high in the branch chain amino acids (BCAA's) Leucine,
Isoleucine and Valine. The best time for us to get our amino
acids is immediately after our training when the muscle is
especially receptive to nutrients and also blood flow to the
exercised muscles which still remains high. The solution to
optimising our recovery and growth after training is a s
meal composed of protein with both simple and some
complex carbohydrates. This is the time when ideally we
require a fast digesting protein such as whey protein.
Amino Acid Supplementation.
The popularity of amino acid supplements has increased
dramatically. Packaged workout and recovery drinks that
contain hydrolysed (pre-digested) proteins and often some
free-form amino acids can be found in most gyms. Also
tubs of powdered or capsulated amino acids are being used
by an increasing number of weight trainers. The good thing
about these supplements is that they don't require digestion
like food does. The term free-form means that they are free
of chemical bonds to other molecules and as such move
quickly through the stomach, into the small intestines
where they are very rapidly absorbed into the blood stream.
When absorbed, amino acids are processed by the liver.
The liver can only process so many at one time, so by
taking a dose of 3-4g of amino acids these will be rapidly
absorbed and would exceed the liver's capacity which
would result in the amino acids being directed to the
tissues that would require them such as muscle that is
recovering from your training.
Amino acids and Energy.
A lot of misconceptions exist about the muscle contraction
and the use of energy substrates during heavy high
intensity weight training. When performing your training
using repetitive power workouts a substantial portion of
your energy comes from non-carbohydrate sources. When
your muscles contract they use stores of adenosine
triphosphate (ATP, a substance vital to the energy
processes of all our living cells) for the first few seconds.
The compound used to immediately replenish these stores
is creatine phosphate (CP). This is how the supplement
creatine, became so popular to bodybuilders and strength
trained athletes. Creatine is made from three amino acids:
arginine, methionine and glycine. To keep our CP and ATP
levels high, these amino acids must be kept elevated in our
blood stream. The amino acids in creatine supplements can
be supplied by foods in our diet but the process of elevating
these amino acids takes a great deal of time in digestion,
and also would be accompanied by fats and carbohydrates
which may or may not be desired. So the use of free form
amino acids, either alone or in combination with creatine
supplements can provide direct source of energy for power
and strength.
Amino acids & Fat loss.
In fat loss two major processes must occur (1) the
mobilisation and circulation of stored fats in the body must
be increased; and (2) Fats must be transported and
converted to energy at the mitochondria (the powerhouse
site of cells). Several nutrients can assist in the conversion
of fat to energy including the amino acid methionine, which
in sufficient amounts can help improve the transport and
metabolism of fat. When attempting to keep our total
calories down during dieting, amino acid supplements
including BCAA's and glutamine can also help to keep our
food volume down but still provide support directly to the
muscles, liver and our immune systems which are critical to
optimising our body composition.
Amino acids & Muscle catabolism.
Our body has the ability to breakdown our muscle tissue for
use as an energy source during heavy exercise. This is part
of a bodily process called gluconeogenesis which means
producing or generating glucose from non-carbohydrate
sources. The part of this reaction that is important to us as
bodybuilders is known as the glucose alanine cycle, in
which the BCAA's are stripped from the muscle tissue and
parts of them being converted to the amino acid alanine,
which is then transported to the liver and converted into
glucose. If we consume supplemental BCAA's the body
does not have to breakdown our muscle tissue to gain extra
energy. Studies have concluded that the use of BCAA's (up
to 4g) during and after training can result in a significant
reduction of muscle breakdown during training. Catabolism
of muscle can cause shrinkage of our muscles and muscle
soreness and may also lead us to injury.
Amino acids and the anabolic effect.
Resistance training generally stimulates both protein
synthesis and protein degradation in exercised muscle
fibres. Muscle hypertrophy (growth) occurs when an
increase in protein synthesis results in the body's normal
state of protein synthesis and degradation. The normal
hormonal environment (e.g, insulin and growth hormone
levels) in the period following resistance training stimulates
the muscle fibres anabolic processes while blunting muscle
protein degradation. Dietary modifications that increase
amino acid transport into muscles raise energy availability
or increase anabolic hormones should augment the training
effects by increasing the rate of muscle anabolism and/or
decreasing muscle catabolism. Either effect should create a
positive body protein balance for improved muscular growth
and strength.
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