Know Your Amino Acids

Most of us have good general knowledge about vitamins and fats and how they affect our health. The very mention of amino acids generates a altruistic - of apathetic view, since amino acids sound too specialist and arduous to tolerate. Although you might have heard about amino acids, how they affect every area of your health may not have occurred to you. A farther understanding of these indispensable chemical units can divulge how they affect every area of your life.

On the other hand, a deficiency of amino acids can cause an array of disorders that much go undiagnosed with typic testing or screening methods. We will try to plug those screening loopholes in this article.

The Building Blocks

Amino Acids are chemical subunits of proteins. They make up proteins and so are called the building blocks of proteins. They form shorter polymer manacles called peptides, or longer cuffs called polypeptides or proteins. Amino acids also act as intermediates in metabolism.

If any amino acid is missing, the entire qualification of the other amino acids is poverty-stricken, just like one absent block affects the entire building. The entire framework may be in danger of dog-tired for of a single deficiency. A difficulty in handling proteins may affect the way in which they are catabolized ( unsuccessful down ) into amino acids, which further help in building the body tissues.

Importance of Proteins

After water, proteins are the second most abundant substances in the human body. They make up 80 percent of the body’ s dry mass. Protein substances make up muscles, tendons, glands, organs, enzymes, nails and hair. They influence the growth and repair of all cells of the body.

Proteins act as catalysts for most of the reactions in living cells and virtually sway all cellular processes. Proteins help muscles to contract and hold water. They arrange a yellow-eyed coating to hair and a rigid framework to bones and teeth. Proteins also regulate the acid - base balance of the body and stimulate the defense mechanism to produce antibodies.

The Protein - Amino Acid Link

Since proteins are so important, amino acids that make up proteins are important. Proteins cannot exist without amino acids in the correct combination. If any essential amino acid is mislaid or low in proportion, the functioning of the others will be strapped proportionally. 20 different amino acids are used to cause proteins. They are classified into essential and non - essential amino acids. Essential amino acids must be obtained from diet now non - essential ones are produced by the body in the liver. The central nervous system cannot function properly without amino acids.

Amino Acids as Neurotransmitters

Amino acids help the brain to transfer and derive messages to different parts of the body. Amino acids act as neurotransmitters and are superlatively available in the brain. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that pass on messages between neurons and cells.

Glutamic acid, gamma amino butyric acid ( GABA ), aspartic acid and glycine are the four amino acids that act as neurotransmitters. Amino acids are released by neurons and act as intercellular messengers. Glutamic acid is the most common excitatory neurotransmitters and GABA is the most common inhibitory neurotransmitters.

Multitudinous Other Benefits

Amino acid supplements are a regular feature with athletes and body builders. During protein catabolism, proteins are adverse down into amino acids during digestion. Athletes who take amino acid supplements follow the logic that supplements can forthwith proffer the required amino acids by bypassing the process of digestion.

Amino acids are also vocal to raise the body’ s nitrogen level, facilitating muscle repair. Without total repair the body does not recover and build up tissues.

Daily bustle can wear out muscles which enter on to be in a need for repair, leading to fatigue and soreness. Amino acids help repair these muscles before strengthening them. Amino acids promote anabolism, which is the building up of cells using proteins and nucleic acids. In this way amino acids aid metabolism or the set of chemical reactions in the body necessary for life processes.

Sleep Apnea and Amino Acid Stratum

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder characterized by snoring and pauses in breath. Sleep apnea results in poor quality of sleep and is regularly an cue of some underlying make. In a person with sleep apnea, the amino acid function becomes weak resulting in differing medical conditions. Amino acid grade must thereupon be assessed in disposition to contraption the right treatment for sleep apnea.

Benefits of Glutamine

Glutamine, the most abundant free amino acid, is the nitrogen carrier that transports nitrogen in the body. It is spoken to be a “ conditionally essential” amino acid as it can be manufactured by the healthy body but much has to be obtained from diet. Glutamine is stored in muscles and can be manufactured in the lungs. Glutamine removes irrelevant ammonia which is a waste product. It also helps the available ammonia to be used in an superlative way to make other amino acids, sugars and an antioxidant called glutathione. Glutamine boosts the immune system and is also necessary for brain function and digestion. Glutamine promotes the healing of wounds, stomach ulcers, and controls obesity.

Glutamine and Your Immune System

The benefits of Glutamine in protecting the gastrointestinal tract, or the mucosa, needs special mention. A healthy digestive system indicates a healthy immune system. Since 70 % of our immune system is concentrated in the digestive tract, glutamine is very pragmatic in boosting the immune system. It helps heal the cells of the mucosa in the small and large paunch and prevents symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease ( IBD ). It also helps prevent peritonitis, the inflammation of the peritoneum ( a thin membrane that merchandise the abdominal wall ). Glutamine is found in meat, poultry, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese and gravy. Diverse supplements are also available in the market, making it very popular among athletes.

Looking into the benefits of glutamine, one can visualize how useful the other amino acids can be to the body.

Biochemical Screening

A proper balance of amino acids can build up your immune system, rejuvenate your skin, keep your digestive system in perfect working constitution, enrich your bloodstream and give you a youthful vigor.

A difficulty in metabolizing proteins shows up in biochemical screening profiles. Hence having your amino acid level assessed is very important. Biochemical screening searches for evidence of diseases or deficiencies or conditions that may precede these deficiencies. The aim of screening is to try to limit ill health by preventing diseases or treating them in their early stages when they may go mysterious, leading to serious health problems next. If protein stratum is not functioning properly you can be a victim to changeable inflammatory conditions and degenerative diseases such as arthritis, cancer, fibromyalgia. Sleep apnea is also the likely upshot of an illegal protein station.

Biochemical screening can be provided by specialized pathology centres.