|
Proteins - Vital to Life
Proteins provide a key life force. They are crucial
to the minute-by-minute regulation and maintenance of our
bodies. Vital body functions - such as blood clotting,
fluid balance, hormone and enzyme production, visual
processes, and cell repair - require specific proteins. Your body generates proteins in many configurations and sizes
so that they can serve these greatly varied functions. All these proteins use the amino acids in protein-containing
foods we eat. When we eat proteins, we are really just
eating sources of amino acids. Proteins can also supply
energy for the body - 4 kcal per gram.
If you don't regularly eat enough protein, many of your
metabolic processes slow down. This is because the body
does not have enough amino acids available to build the
proteins it needs. For example, the immune system no
longer functions efficiently when it lacks key proteins,
thereby increasing the risk of infections, disease, and
eventually death. Therefore proteins truly deserve their
name, which comes from the Greek word protos, meaning
"to come first."
Amino Acids
Your body needs to use 20 or so different forms of amino
acids to function. Although they are all important, 11
or so of these amino acids are considered nonessential (also
called dispensable) - it isn't essential to consume them
because our bodies make them using other amino acids we
consume. In other words, human cells can produce certain
amino acids needed to make body proteins as long as the right
ingredients are present - the key factor being nitrogen that
is already part of another amino acid.
The nine amino acids the body cannot make are known as
essential (also called indispensable) - they must be obtained
from foods. This is because body cells either cannot
make the needed carbon backbone of the amino acid, cannot put
a nitrogen group on the needed carbon backbone, or just cannot
do the whole process fast enough to meet body
needs.
Both nonessential and essential amino acids are present in
foods that contain protein. If you don't eat enough
essential amino acids, your body first struggles to conserve
what essential amino acids it can. however, eventually
your body progressively slows production of new protein until
at some point you will break protein down faster than you can
make it. When that happens, as noted, health
deteriorates.
Therefore the two main functions of proteins in our diets
are (1) to provide the nine essential amino acids needed by
our bodies and (2) to provide either the nonessential amino
acids our bodies use or nitrogen from an amino acid, which in
turn can be used to make the nonessential amino acids. Enough protein must be consumed to serve these two
functions. In a practical sense, a key consideration with
respect to protein intake is quantity - getting enough protein
via the diet to provide enough essential amino acids and
enough of the necessary form of nitrogen for use in the
production of any missing nonessential amino acid.
Classification of Amino Acids
| Essential (indispensable) amino acids |
Nonessential (dispensable) amino
acids |
| Histidine |
Alanine |
| Isoleucine |
Arginine |
| Leucine |
Asparagine |
| Lysine |
Aspartic acid |
| Methionine |
Cysteine |
| Phenylalanine |
(Cystine) |
| Threonine |
Glutamic acid |
| Tryptophan |
Glutamine |
| Valine |
Glycine |
| |
Proline |
| |
Serine |
| |
Tyrosine |
(The nutrition information is referred to Contemporary
Nutrition by Gordon M. Wardlaw, third edition, 1997)
After knowing the importance of these nutrients, would
you like to have adequate intake for all of these
nutrients? Advanced Liquid Nutrition is the
solution. It contains almost all of the nutrients
described above. Order yours now to ensure you have
enough intake of all these nutrients in order to maintain a
healthy body.
Go
to Advanced Liquid Nutrition
Go to
Nutrition Information Menu
Go to Wellness/Nutrition
Product List
|
