Amino acid is a primary building block of proteins. The amino group (NH2) and acidic carboxyl (COOH) creates an organic compound, which is called amino acid. In nature there are 20 types of organic amino acids that are present. These 20 compounds have a basic formula NH2CHRCOOH. This bonds them together to form proteins. Out of 20 types 8 are Essential amino acids. Our body cant make these amino acids and we need to take it from outside i.e., through foods. The list of 20 amino acids is given below - Alanine
- Arginine
- Asparagine
- Aspartic Acid
- Aysteine
- Glutamic Acid
- Glutamine
- Glycine
- Histidine
- Isoleucine
- Leucine
- Lysine
- Methionine
- Phenylalanine
- Proline
- Serine
- Threonine
- Tryptophan
- Tyrosine
- Valine
Apart from above mentioned 20 amino acids, there are more than 100 lesser known amino acids, which also exist in the world. In the intestine when food is digested, the amino acids are released. Then these are carried by the blood and routed to the body cells. Amino acids are essential for cells because of many reasons. Amino acid repair cells when the cell is not healthy. Amino acids grow new cells or develop a new cell. Amino acid also keeps existing cells healthy. Thus in the daily diet the existence of amino acid is essential. |
