Importance of Amino Acids

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

The basic organic substances so that proteins can exist are amino acids, these compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, are much more important than is usually said about they. Fulfilling functions ranging from being the molecular units that make up proteins, to their direct participation in cycles and metabolic pathways. essential for life, as well as the responsibility in the processes of cellular transport, the importance of amino acids falls on each of the processes that makes life possible, not only for humans, but for all other species, and even for the viruses themselves, although the latter are not considered living beings themselves.

Amino acids can be obtained through their simple presence in food, or through the degeneration of proteins through their consumption and the processes of digestion and absorption, but there is an important group of these molecules that the organism is capable of producing as a result of various metabolisms, while the Non-essential amino acids maintain their metabolic presence more easily than the other groups of amino acids, for which care must be taken to maintain a diet that allows its constant assimilation depending on the particular needs that we have, according to the lifestyle of each person and the availability of food in the region where it is located. inhabit.

essentially unique

There is a particular group of amino acids, which our body is not capable of producing through any route metabolism, but even so they are strictly necessary for some of them and for the essential synthesis of proteins.

This important type of amino acids are known as essential, being the intake of certain foods the only way to obtain them. However, it must also be taken into account that, although a certain food - especially of vegetable origin - can demonstrate at the level of chemical analysis that it contains one or more essential amino acids, it is not always viable for our body to assimilate it from that specific source, hence it is essential to consider the importance of the amino acids that are consumed, according to their nutritional source, in order to provide the body with everything it really needs for its balance metabolic.

Another type of amino acids that should be given special attention is conditional ones.

The importance of conditional amino acids lies in the fact that the organism is capable of producing them in minimal quantities and under very specific conditions. A clear example is that of arginine, which is produced exclusively for the Urea cycle, serving as a link in the chain of elimination of toxins through the urine, despite the fact that the balance of this function fulfilled by the kidneys is of vital importance, there have been many nutritional supplements based on arginine, which have been promoted as supposed stimulants of muscle development, seriously endangering the health of those who consume them, a fact that unfortunately has occurred over the years with most of these amino acids, demonstrating that excess consumption through unnatural feeding pathways can cause more damage than benefits.

Syndromes and deficiencies

There are countless syndromes and diseases resulting from deficiencies - or excesses - in the amount necessary amount of amino acids available in the body, a very frequent example is suffering from depression.

Even in situations as common as depression, which could arise from multiple emotionally justifiable causes, the importance of the role that a simple amino acid plays in as tryptophan plays in the delicate balance of neurotransmitters, and more specifically in the production of serotonin – regulator of happiness in our brain – it really does critical when considering the fact that it is an essential amino acid that we only obtain through food, which by the way, precisely in depressive states is one of the main functions on which total interest is lost, thereby radically reducing the availability of tryptophan in the metabolism, thus maintaining the emotional picture for more time.

To this sad chain of unfortunate events, we must also add the little knowledge that is shared about the importance of amino acids – even more so about the essential ones – and how to obtain them through food suitable.

In this particular case that we have cited, the contribution that you can provide to your brain to recover from depression would be much, if you incorporated into your feeding a good amount of broccoli, which is one of the foods with the highest content of tryptophan easily assimilated by our organism.