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What are Amino Acids?

In the human body protein plays a major role in most of your biological processes and amino acids are the building blocks of it. Large Portions or our cells, muscles and tissues are made from amino acids. They also play a role in important bodily functions as well as transport and storage of nutrients.
Amino acids have an influence on many functions of the body. This includes organ function, glands, tendons, and arteries. They also help with healing wounds and tissue repair. These tissues are muscles, bones, skin and hair.
Why So Important?

Many doctors and researchers throughout the years have documented that amino acids can have positive effects on your body. Nothing seems to be safe anymore, whether its burning waste, hormones injected into livestock before they are killed, fertilizers used, and habits such as smoking and drinking can prevent our body from working properly. By providing people with amino acids it can help replace what was lost along the journey of just living everyday.
A study that was done in Germany showed that older people are more susceptible to malnutrition. If you are lacking in one area then your body will not be able to carry out functions for another. Without the necessary vitamins and proteins (amino acids) you are at more of a risk to health issues.
So is it Beneficial or Not?

Who knows at this point if it’s right for you to take? Lately Internet and media have been advertising all about protein powders and fad diets, so what is the key to staying healthy?
Protein does play an important role in the body but it is not the only thing that keeps the body moving. When we actually breakdown what proteins are then the question is it beneficial becomes easier.
Protein is a complex substance that breaks down to be a combination of nitrogen-containing amino acids. There are 20 different amino acids important to the body. Although you think 20 is so little, these 20 actually combine together in different ways to make up hundreds of different protein structures the fuel our body.
How does it work?

When you eat protein sources like; milk, eggs, cheese or meat your digestive system will take over first. Your digestive system will break down the food into amino acids, then they are absorbed into the blood. From there Enzymes will then recreate the sequences to produce proteins that will help the body with specific needs. These specific needs can be for building muscle, making red blood cells or other things that your body needs to function better. There are only a certain amount of amino acids that can be created just by your body; there are 8 amino acids that have to come from your diet so that you are still getting the recommended amount.
These 8 are:
Histidine, isoleucine, lysine, methionine (becomes cysteine), phenylalanine (becomes tyrosine), threonine, tryptophan, and valine.
The other 12 are made within your body.
What is daily recommended amount or protein?

The body does require a certain amount of food so that you can function properly. I am not saying go and stuff your face with mcdonalds burgers thinking it will be the right amount of protein to function properly. You need to eat a good protein portion that will benefit your body for what your goals are.
Protein and Fat are correlated in diets, you don’t want to much fat in your diet but you cant have zero in your diet either. When you increase protein and lower your fat you see that you will have less fat on your body. This means if your going to eat a lot of fat then I would consider the weight gain that will happen if you do so.
This is when you start to use programs like myfitnesspal.com because after you plug in your daily intake of food you can see your fat and protein and calorie levels all put in a chart for you to see. This can help you improve and manipulate your diet.
Although you don’t need to follow this chart specifically the required amount of protein you need depends on the individuals weight, sex, level of activity, total intake of calories, and health.
Where can you get Certain Proteins?

Well first off proteins do come from animals mostly. These proteins are milk, eggs, cheese, or meat. You can also get protein from plants and nuts. When you think about plants you should think of wheat. Most people eat things that say whole wheat on them but they don’t find things that are made from a whole-wheat kernel. Other than wheat there is corn, rice, peas, and beans. The nuts available for proteins are walnuts, pecans, and almonds. These supply your body with vitamins, minerals, and important fatty acids. Still nuts come up short to animal protein every time.
When you’re thinking about a diet you need to think about adding all three types of proteins and not just one. So adding animal protein, as well as plant protein, and nut protein.
How does it help exercise?

When supplementing with amino acids or just trying to play around with your diet, some people can tell a difference and some cannot. This is why when you relate performance to amino acids some can’t link the two.
One study showed that when given amino acids to athletes that there was an increase in muscle breakdown and their testosterone count went up. This concluded that the process of burning fat off was related to the amino acids. Studies say that taking amino acids before exercise will kick-start your anabolic processes. This means that there will be increase blood flow that promotes better amino acid entry into the muscle. The best result of these studies was feeling less sore. Participants that did not take the amino acids felt worse and stiff and sore after their workout. Others that did take the amino acids felt a significant difference in how not sore they were.