The Amino Acid - Protein Connection
Except for water, just about everything in the human body - blood to bone, hormone to heart - contains protein.
In fact, all living tissue, animal or vegetable, is made up of protein.
Protein is the basic building block of life.
And if the human body is made up of protein, protein is made up of amino acids.
These are compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen strung together in countless different ways.
These amino acids are then combined in countless different ways to form individual proteins.
Think of amino acids as individually different beads strung together in different ways to form uniquely different necklaces.
Of all the many different acids, just twenty of them are essential to human life.
But these twenty essential acids can be combined in countless ways just as the 26 letters of the alphabet can be combined in countless ways to form millions of different words in hundreds of different languages.
All foods, animal or vegetable, contain protein made up of amino acids.
Some protein rich foods, however, contain all twenty of the essential amino acids while others lack one or more of the amino acids needed for human growth and development.
Animal foods - meat, milk and eggs - are considered to be complete proteins because they contain all the acids.
Since plant foods lack one or more essential amino acids they are considered to be incomplete protein sources.
However, that doesn't mean animal source proteins are necessarily better than vegetable protein sources.
It only means that if you're on a vegetarian diet you need to eat a wide variety of plants foods over the course of a day, such as rice and beans, peanut butter on whole grain bread or stir-fried vegetables with tofu over rice.
Vegetable based protein may be better for you than animal source protein - meat, eggs and dairy products - more for what it doesn't have than for what it does have.
Animal protein foods are high in dietary fat, especially cholesterol producing saturated fat, as well as residual pesticides.
Animal foods are also much higher in calories which can lead to excess weight gain.
In fact, all living tissue, animal or vegetable, is made up of protein.
Protein is the basic building block of life.
And if the human body is made up of protein, protein is made up of amino acids.
These are compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen strung together in countless different ways.
These amino acids are then combined in countless different ways to form individual proteins.
Think of amino acids as individually different beads strung together in different ways to form uniquely different necklaces.
Of all the many different acids, just twenty of them are essential to human life.
But these twenty essential acids can be combined in countless ways just as the 26 letters of the alphabet can be combined in countless ways to form millions of different words in hundreds of different languages.
All foods, animal or vegetable, contain protein made up of amino acids.
Some protein rich foods, however, contain all twenty of the essential amino acids while others lack one or more of the amino acids needed for human growth and development.
Animal foods - meat, milk and eggs - are considered to be complete proteins because they contain all the acids.
Since plant foods lack one or more essential amino acids they are considered to be incomplete protein sources.
However, that doesn't mean animal source proteins are necessarily better than vegetable protein sources.
It only means that if you're on a vegetarian diet you need to eat a wide variety of plants foods over the course of a day, such as rice and beans, peanut butter on whole grain bread or stir-fried vegetables with tofu over rice.
Vegetable based protein may be better for you than animal source protein - meat, eggs and dairy products - more for what it doesn't have than for what it does have.
Animal protein foods are high in dietary fat, especially cholesterol producing saturated fat, as well as residual pesticides.
Animal foods are also much higher in calories which can lead to excess weight gain.