Amino acids how many different types

Over the years, there has been controversy about whether vegetarian diets can provide adequate amounts of essential amino acids. Many experts believe that while it may be harder for vegetarians to maintain an adequate intake, they should be able to do so if they follow the American Heart Association's guidelines of 5 to 6 servings of whole grains, and 5 or more servings of vegetables and fruits, per day.

Conditional amino acids: These are usually not essential to everyday living but are important when you're sick, injured, or stressed.

When you're ill or injured, your body may not be able to produce enough conditional amino acids, and you may need to give your body what it needs through diet or supplements. Still, talk with your doctor if you plan to follow a diet that's very high in protein or one that includes amino acid supplements for any reason — including any supplements taken to support intense athletic training.

By subscribing you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Health Topics. Rose at the University of Illinois discovered that threonine was essential by feeding different diets to graduate students at the university as described in the following link. Discovery of Threonine by William C. Rose Non-essential, or dispensable, amino acids can be made in our body, so we do not need to consume them. Conditionally essential amino acids become essential for individuals in certain situations.

An example of a condition when an amino acid becomes essential is the disease phenylketonuria PKU. Individuals with PKU have a mutation in the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase, which normally adds an alcohol group OH to the amino acid phenylalanine to form tyrosine as shown below. Figure 2.

J Am Diet Assoc. PMID: pubmed. Editorial team. Amino acids. The human body uses amino acids to make proteins to help the body: Break down food Grow Repair body tissue Perform many other body functions Amino acids can also be used as a source of energy by the body. As a result, they must come from food. Roughly amino acids have been identified in nature, but just 20 amino acids make up the proteins found in the human body. All The 20 amino acids are classified into two different amino acid groups.

Essential amino acids and Non-essential amino acids together make up the 20 amino acids. Out of the 20 amino acids, 9 are the essential amino acids, and the others are Non-essential amino acids.

Branched-chain amino acids BCAAs are a group of three amino acids valine, leucine and isoleucine that have a molecular structure with a branch. BCAAs are plentiful in muscle proteins, stimulate muscle growth in the body and provide energy during exercise.

Lysine is one of the most commonly mentioned essential amino acids. Foods such as bread and rice tend to be low in lysine. For example, compared to an ideal amino acid composition, wheat is low in lysine.

The United Nations University carried out the research about people in developing countries where they depend on wheat for protein, and found out the lack of lysine in their diet. Not having enough lysine and other amino acids can lead to serious problems such as stunted growth and severe illness. Glutamine is one of the most common amino acids in the body.

Glutamine protects the stomach and gastrointestinal tract. In particular, glutamine is used to produce energy for the gastrointestinal tract. Glutamine promotes the metabolization of alcohol to protect the liver.

Aspartate is one of the amino acids that is most usable for energy. Aspartate is one of the amino acids positioned most closely to the tricarboxylic acid TCA cycle in the body that produces energy.