9 Essential Amino Acids 

1. Histidine
2. Isoleucine
3. Leucine
4. Lysine
5. Methionine
6. Phenylalanine
7. Threonine
8. Tryptophan
9. Valine

Extra – – – >Pyrrolysine

An essential amino acid, or indispensable amino acid, is an amino acid that cannot be synthesized de novo (from scratch) by the organism at a rate commensurate with its demand, and thus must be supplied in its diet. Of the 21 amino acids common to all life forms, the nine amino acids humans cannot synthesize are phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, and histidine, arginine.

Amino acids are a group of 20 organic compounds that share specific formation traits. They are known as the ‘building blocks’ of proteins in both plants and animals. Because they play such a foundational role, they are involved in many chemical reactions throughout your body to help maintain your body’s normal functions.

Amino acids are grouped into three categories – Essential, Nonessential, and Conditional. The group to which a specific amino acid belongs depends on where your body obtains it.

Essential Amino Acids: Your body cannot produce essential amino acids. These must be obtained by an external source, usually through food or supplementation. Most people are able to get enough essential amino acids through their diets. The essential amino acids are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.

Nonessential amino acids: Nonessential amino acids are those which your body naturally produces throughout the day whether or not you eat food that contains them. The nonessential amino acids are alanine, asparagine, aspartic acid, and glutamic acid.

Conditional amino acids: These amino acids are produced only under specific circumstances, typically when your body is fighting off an illness or dealing with stress. The conditional amino acids are arginine, cysteine, glutamine, tyrosine, glycine, ornithine, proline, and serine.

A balanced diet can help ensure that you get a healthy intake of essential and nonessential amino acids throughout your day. Without an adequate intake of amino acids, your body will not be able to produce proteins in your body as effectively, and in some cases the proteins in muscle and tissues will start to weaken or degrade.

Amino acids play a role in almost every system throughout your body, including:

Assisting in the creation and growth of muscles, connective tissue, and skin
Assisting in maintaining muscle tone and tissue strength
Healing and repair
Normal digestion
Providing energy for your body
Regulating moods by helping produce hormones
Producing neurotransmitters
Maintaining healthy skin, hair, and nails

Benefits of Protein

Since amino acids help build protein chains and play a supporting role in almost every part of your body, everyone can benefit from amino acids. Supplements of protein and amino acids are often recommended to athletes and active individuals to help boost performance and maintain muscle and tissue strength. Amino acids may help athletic performance in a variety of ways, such as:

• Increasing tolerance to pain during exercise so that athletes can push themselves further during training
• Modifying the way the body perceives fatigue, prolonging how long athletes can perform before fatigue sets in
• Decreasing the duration of recovery from overtraining
• Improving immune function for less frequency of illness or infection
• Improving performance in aerobic training
• Supporting blood flow for improved endurance
• Improving the development of lean muscle mass and overall strength
• Improving antioxidant production to reduce cellular damage
• Providing anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects to reduce damage to muscles
• Helping prevent muscle wasting (in conjunction with resistance training)
• Enhancing how your body metabolizes fats during exercise

Amino acids aren’t limited to athletic performance. Supplementing amino acids can reduce natural muscle loss in aging individuals, especially when used in conjunction with resistance training. Not only that, amino acid supplementation can also help restore previously lost muscle mass in the elderly and assist with maintaining these gains for improved strength and mobility.

A deficiency in amino acids is possible; however, this condition is very rare in the US since an amino acid deficiency typically happens when a person become malnourished. As a result, an amino acid deficiency is often marked by many of the same symptoms of malnutrition such as severe muscle loss, edema (swollen skin), thin and brittle hair, hair loss, and skin sores or lesions.

An amino acid deficiency can also occur in individuals who have an additional condition that impairs absorption.

Most people can get their daily intake of amino acids from food. This compound is easily found in both animal and plant products, although some types may contain only part of the amino acids you need. For example, some foods may contain only essential amino acids; others may contain all of them; others still may only have nonessential types.

Natural sources of amino acids include:

• Dairy
• Beef, pork, chicken, and turkey
• Salmon and tuna
• Eggs
• Soy products (eg tofu, edamame, soy milk)
• Quinoa
• Spinach
• Kale
• Broccoli
• Romaine lettuce
• Beans and other legumes
• Potatoes

Eating a balanced diet that contains multiple ingredients from this list can help ensure that you are getting all of the essential amino acids that you need to feel your best.

Pros: You need to eat, don’t you? You can ensure that you’re nourished and getting your daily intake of amino acids all in one fell swoop.

Cons: Preparing balanced meals can take time, but it’s worthwhile!