Essential Amino Acids

The term essential amino acids refers to the approximately ten percent of amino acids that the human body cannot manufacture. While approximately twenty different amino acids are made within the body, primarily in the liver, there are ten that must be taken into the body through the diet.

Get all the amino acids by eating a varied diet.

Amino acids are important to the body because they are the building blocks of protein, necessary for the growth and repair of cells. The amino acids work together in balance and if there isn’t enough of just one, all of the rest will be less effective.

Amino acids are important to the proper function of:

• Cell growth and repair
• Metabolism
• Central nervous system

In human beings, 80 percent of the amino acids needed are produced in the liver. The other 20 percent must be taken in food and vitamin supplements. This 20 percent are considered to be essential. While all ten of the essential aminos are important for optimum health in infants and children, only eight of them are necessary for adults.

• Isoleucine
• Leucine
• Lysine
• Methionine
• Phenylalanine
• Threonine
• Tryptophan
• Valine

These are essential for infants and children but not necessary to adults:

• Arginine
• Histidine

In addition to the essential aminos there are several more that are called conditionally essential. This means that they are not required in the diet normally unless there is another underlying a problem. For example, a small percentage of people must keep the phenylalanine that they take in at a very low level because of a disease called Phenylketonuria. The trouble is that phenylalanine is a requirement for the body to synthesize tyrosine. In this case, the normally nonessential amino becomes an essential one since it will have to be given in a supplement form.

The conditionally essential aminos are:

• Arginine
• Cysteine
• Glycine
• Glutamine
• Histidine
• Proline
• Serine
• Tyrosine

The World Health Organization, WHO, has developed a guideline for the amount of essential aminos that you should get on a daily basis based on your body weight. The table that follows gives these guidelines for kilograms and pounds.

Nearly everything you eat contains amino acids. Foods that come from animal sources are the best suppliers of all of the aminos. This includes:

• Chicken
• Beef
• Eggs
• Milk
• Fish
• Pork
• Cheese
• Yogurt
• Game

Vegetarians will have to be a little more careful. Plant sources tend to lack at least one of the amino acids, so vegetarians often need to combine two incomplete proteins to get a complete protein that includes all of the amino acids. Plant combinations are:

• Legumes with seeds or nuts
• Legumes with whole grains
• Seeds or nuts with whole grains

There are a few plants that offer the complete spectrum of amino acids. These are:

• Buckwheat
• Quinoa
• Hemp seed
• Amaranth
• Soy is nearly complete but is missing some components

Under normal circumstances it is not difficult to get all of the essential amino acids necessary from your diet alone. It is always important to eat a well balanced, varied diet with lots of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. In most instances there will not be a need for supplements.

There are some that believe that supplementation is important for the following groups of people:

• Body builders
• When under stress
• Allergy sufferers
• Those with compromised immune systems
• Hypoglycemia

It is always important to discuss your plans to supplement your diet with your health care provider.

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• Vitamin D Deficiency Symptoms
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• Glutamine Side Effects
• Food Sources of Tryptophan
• Foods Containing L Tryptophan
• Arginine Dosage
• Functions of Tryptophan