How Important are Amino Acids?

How important are amino acids? Amino acids are considered the building blocks that comprise protein. Protein, it follows, cannot exist without the correct combination of amino acids.

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How Important are Amino Acids? How important are Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids? Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">Amino acids are considered the building blocks that comprise protein. Protein, it follows, cannot exist without the correct combination of Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids. If any essential amino acid is low or missing, the effectiveness of all others will be proportionately reduced. In the body, adequate protein intake is vital for virtually everything from healthy muscles, ligaments, tendons, organs, glands, nails, hair and most body fluids. Besides water, protein comprises the largest portion of our body weight, and as such, the body's requirement for protein is directly related to good health.

Additionally, the central nervous system cannot function properly without Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids, which are necessary for the brain to both send and receive information.

Unlike fat and carbohydrates, the body cannot store large quantities of protein. Also, protein cannot be used directly by the body and must be digested from its food source into isolated singular Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids. The body must then recombine these Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids into protein.

The body's protein metabolism uses a base of essential Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids to create 150 or more others inside the body, which on an ongoing basis recombine and produce some 40,000 protein types on an as-needed-basis.

If the body is allowed to deplete itself of any of the essential Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids, it cannot produce those proteins requiring such Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids. The end result will be that the body will break down its own protein structure, including healthy muscle, to meet its need for isolated singular Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids.

This can be a particular problem with vegetarians. The quality and amount of Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids tends to be lower in protein found in vegetables, whereas most animal protein contains all eight essential Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids. Unless foods are combined at the same meal to complement Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids so that adequate amounts of all eight are present, the body will be unable to use the rest. While it is possible to combine foods with incomplete proteins to provide all the essential Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids, it is often very difficult. Amino acid supplements, taken in conjunction with eating complete protein sources each day, offer a way to guarantee that not only are all essential Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids being taken, but that they will be absorbed and used in the body.

Branched-Chain Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">Amino Acids

The branched-chain Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids ( BCAAs) are the essential Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids isoleucine, leucine, and valine. Together, these three Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids make up about 35 percent of the amino-acid content of muscle tissue. Each of these Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids is also used by the body for energy. Studies confirm that under conditions of stress, injury, or exercise, the body uses a disproportionately high amount of the BCAAs to maintain nitrogen balance. Studies also indicate that leucine is used at a rate two or more times greater than those of isoleucine and valine. Many amino-acid formulations on the market therefore have about twice as much L-leucine as the other two BCAAs.

The amounts of the BCAAs supplied vary with the different products available. Some products contain just the BCAAs, others have the BCAAs as well as a few additional ingredients, and still others contain the full spectrum of eighteen Amino-Acids-c-15698.html" title="Shop for Amino Acids">amino acids with extra amounts of the BCAAs plus cofactors.

How Much BCAAs do You Need?

Exactly how much of each of the BCAAs is needed by the body has not yet been determined, I have developed the following guidelines from available research and experience. If you wish to take a BCAA supplement, you can take either a combination formulation consisting of just the BCAAs and a few cofactors, a full-spectrum amino-acid formulation that includes the BCAAs, or a full-spectrum amino-acid supplement that contains extra BCAAs. Supplemental amounts of the BCAAs should range from 1,500 to 6,000 milligrams for L-leucine and 800 to 3,000 milligrams each for L-isoleucine and L-valine. Divide the dosage between two servings a day. Take the two servings thirty to sixty minutes before exercising and directly after exercising on training days, or along with meals on nontraining days, to fortify the base proteins.

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