List of Essential Amino Acids

List of Essential Amino Acids - The Definition

Amino acids are critical to life and have many different roles in our metabolism. One of the most important functions is as the building blocks of proteins. We all know that protein is essential for building skeletal muscle.

Every protein is defined by a sequence of amino acids. Much like letters in the alphabet can be combined to form different words, amino acids can be linked together in varying sequences to form a large variety of proteins.

There are twenty-two standard amino acids and they are used to either synthesize protein and other biomolecules or they are oxidized to carbon dioxide as a source of energy.

Of the twenty-two standard amino acids, eight are called essential amino acids because the human body cannot synthesize them from other compounds at levels needed for normal growth, so they must be obtained from food or Amino Acid supplements. It's hard to make general statements on dietary requirements for some amino acids because the amounts needed by our body depends on an individuals age and health.