The benefits of amino acids and why they are important

AMINO ACIDS: Why Are Amino Acids So Important, and How Do You Benefit?

Amino Acids

What are Amino Acids?

Amino Acids have been a huge buzzword in the health and nutrition space for a while now. We all know that they are important, but do you really know why and how they impact your health and wellness? Read on to find out more, and why they are a vital aspect of your health…

Amino Acids are the building blocks of protein and consequently from the basic material of all living cells. There are two different types: essential and non-essential. The ten essential amino acids can’t be made in the body and need to be provided in your diet. The ten non-essential amino acids can be made in the body.

The most common source of amino acids are protein rich foods. Protein foods are classified into complete or first-class protein, and incomplete or second-class protein.

Complete protein is found in dairy products, seafood and meat and contains all ten essential amino acids. Incomplete protein is found in nuts, seeds, lentils, beans and whole grains, and contains some but not all ten essential amino acids, you need to eat and combination of these foods to consume the full range of essential AA’s.

The terms first-class and second-class protein are slightly misleading, giving the impression that animal derived sources of protein are superior to plant-based proteins. Meat, fish and eggs are undisputedly rich sources of protein however they aren’t the easiest for your liver to digest. The simple reason is that your body and your liver have to work a lot harder to digest meat and dairy products. Plant-based proteins, however, are naturally low fat or fat-free and are easily digestible.

Amino Acids

What Are The Top Benefits?

In summary, the amino acids work throughout your body to promote healthy growth and development, and to improve brain function and mood. Specialist areas and benefits include the following…

Mood Boosters: There are a number of Amino Acids which can play a role in mental well-being, helping to reduce anxiety and depression. Tryptophan, for example, helps to produce the feel-good hormone Serotonin which regulates the sleep cycle and reduces depression and panic attacks. The best food sources of tryptophan are bananas and cottage cheese.
Healthy Bones: Lysine (found in soya beans, lentils, spinach, milk and meat) promotes the absorption of calcium.
Appetite Control: Phenylalanine (found in almonds, peanuts, soya beans and cheese) promotes the release of hormones that help control hunger cravings and appetite.

And these are just a few of the benefits of making sure that you are getting enough of your essential Amino Acids!

Amino Acids

What Does An Amino Acid Deficiency Look Like?

Symptoms of Amino Acid deficiency can include depression and fatigue, muscle weakness, allergies, obesity and sleeplessness among other things.

If you have recently made a change in your diet to go more plant-based or embraced being vegan, it can be easy to miss out on some amino acids. And, in general, in foods that are not organically grown some of the nutrients that would be present are leached into the soil, and therefore don’t contain the normal amount of amino acids.

Fortunately, help is at hand…!

Did you know there are now amino acid supplements?

So… the GREAT news is that you can now get all your essential Amino Acids in amazing and easy supplement form. What’s not to love about that! As always, we recommend that when choosing your brand focus on looking for high quality, high purity. In particular, we would suggest looking for a supplement offering a complete range (full spectrum) of Amino Acids, rather than sourcing them individually. (Although they are available as individual supplements it is advisable to take these under medical supervision to ensure the correct balance in your body, high doses of some amino acids can have adverse effects.)

We LOVE knowing what these amazing little Amino Acids to do. So… we can’t hesitate but say maybe it’s time for you to stock up on your AA’s and start feeling awesome!

Stay well and happy beautiful one, lots of love,