Understanding Amino Acid Diet

Friday, 18 July 2008

An amino acid chains is what make up proteins, a nutrient that our body really needs. Amino acid is a tiny molecule that serves as the cell’s building blocks. One foremost reason why an amino acid diet is important is because, while cells are provided with energy by Carbohydrates, the amino acids meanwhile gives cells with much needed building blocks or materials that are needed to maintain its cell structure and at the same time grow.

Our body is composed approximately 60 percent or water and about 20% protein. The rest of our body is composed or is making up of minerals like calcium which makes up most of our bones and amino acids that contain the NH2 amino group and the carboxyl group which is found to be acidic.

A correct program of amino acid diet is needed for our body to generate the much needed energy and other nutrients that will help us perform our everyday activities. As far as our body and its structure is concerned there are two known types of amino acids, the non essential and the essential. Essential type of amino acids is not created by our body so that makes it as the only way we can get them is by way of digesting food through amino acid diet. On the other side the non essential amino acids are the type of acids that our body can generate or create from other chemicals in our body.

There are at least 9 amino acids that are regarded as very important for the human body, thus the need for a proper amino acid diet: leucine, isoleucine, threonine, lysine, phenylalanine, histidine, tryptophan, valine and methionine. Additionally the following types of amino acids are also considered as case to case essentials like the tyrosine, glycine, arginine, cysteine and glutamine.

These types of amino acids should always be included in each program of amino acid diet with the exemption of the case to case essential amino acid which can be only required conditionally.

Foods like meat, eggs and milk provides the most sources of essential amino acids, that’s why it is called as a source of complete protein. Vegetables offers low amount of amino acids but by combining different type of foods like meat, vegetable and milk one can enjoy a healthy dose of amino acid diet.

Amino acid diet is required by everybody to ensure that our body produces the needed energy and metabolism and at the same time ensuring proper growth development of our cells in our body.