Amino Acids - Your Body's Building Block
By: ISSA
The deluge of dietary supplements on the market today provides countless avenues for the fitness enthusiast to achieve their goals.
Rather than drawing into a fitness lifestyle through proper nutrition,
exercise, and rest, many will turn to dietary supplements as a panacea
for all their fitness dreams. With all of the misinformation and empty
promises that accompany many products, trying to keep afloat on all of
the new breakthroughs can be overwhelming. Protein powders are the
original bodybuilding supplement and continue to be a staple in the
bodybuilders' diet.
Unfortunately, many fitness enthusiasts and
bodybuilders' love and devotion to protein far surpass their knowledge
of how protein works in the body. Why do so many fitness enthusiasts
have such a limited understanding of protein and amino acids? We hope
that the information in this article will serve as a beacon among the
sea of misinformation about protein and amino acids.
The ultimate value of a food protein or a
protein supplement is in its amino acid composition. Amino acids are
the building blocks of protein, and muscle tissue. Many physiological
processes relating to bodybuilding from energy, recovery, muscle
hypertrophy, fat loss, and strength gains are linked to amino acids.
The twenty-three amino acids are the
molecular building blocks of protein. The amino acids can be divided
into two groups: essential amino acids and non-essential amino acids.
The nine essential amino acids are so designated because they must be
supplied by the foods we eat. The twelve non-essential amino acids are
so designated based on the body's ability to synthesize them from
other amino acids.
The Different Amino Acids
| Essential Amino Acids |
Nonessential Amino Acids |
| Histidine |
Alanine |
| Isoleucine |
Arginine |
| Leucine |
Aspartic Acid |
| Lysine |
Cysteine |
| Methionine |
Cystine |
| Phenylalanine |
Glutamic Acid |
| Tryptophan |
Glutamine |
| Valine |
Glycine |
| Threonine |
Proline |
| |
Serine |
| |
Tyrosine |
How The Body Handles Protein
The
fate of an amino acid after it is transported to the liver is highly
dependent on the body's needs for that moment. Some amino acids enter
the blood stream, where they join amino acids that have been liberated
during the constant breakdown and synthesis of body tissue. Other amino
acids are used by the liver to manufacture many of the specialized
proteins such as liver enzymes, lipoproteins, and the blood protein
(albumin).
As these amino acids circulate throughout
the body, each cell directed by its own DNA blue print, draws from the
common pool of available amino acids to synthesize all the numerous
proteins required for its functions.
In order for protein synthesis to occur, an
adequate supply of both essential and non-essential amino acids is
vital. If one of the essential amino acids is missing then synthesis is
halted. These partially assembled proteins are disassembled and the
amino acids returned to the blood. Any amino acids that are not used
within a short time can not be stored for future use. They are
delivered back to the liver and stripped of their nitrogen. Which is
then incorporated into urea and excreted by the kidneys. The remaining
protein skeleton will be converted to glucose and burned as energy or
converted to fat or glycogen for storage.
Although protein synthesis is very
important, the body's number one priority is to obtain sufficient
energy to carry on vital functions such as circulation, respiration and
digestion. Therefore, in the absence of adequate dietary carbohydrates
and fat calories, the body will break down not only dietary protein but
protein in the blood, liver, pancreas, muscles, and other tissues in
order to maintain vital organs and functions.
Applications To Bodybuilding
As we have already discussed, the fate of
an amino acid after it is transported to the liver is highly dependent
upon the body's needs at that moment. Immediately after exercise,
when the muscle is receptive to nutrients and the blood flow to the
exercise muscles remain high; a window of opportunity exists to aid
muscular growth and recovery. Unfortunately, a high protein meal will
not put significant levels of amino acids into your blood stream until
a couple of hours after you eat it, especially if blood flow to the
gastrointestinal tract has been diminished by a hard training sessions.
The most reliable way to deliver specific
amino acids is to administer the particular amino acids themselves
through free form amino acids. The value of free form amino acids is
first and foremost is that they do not require digestion. They are free
of chemical bonds to other molecules and so move quickly through the
stomach and into the small intestine, where they are rapidly absorbed
into the bloodstream within fifteen minutes. This quick absorption
helps prevent muscle catabolism.
Without sufficient energy, the human body
as discussed above, has the innate ability to break down muscle tissue
for use as an energy source during heavy exercise. This process is
known as gluconeogenesis, which is the production of glucose from
non-carbohydrate sources. The part of the reaction that pertains to our
discussion is known as the glucose �" alanine cycle. During this
cycle, BCAAs
(three of the essential amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, and valine)
are stripped from the muscle tissue and parts of them are converted to
the amino acid alanine, which is transported to the liver and converted
to glucose.
Branched-chained amino acids are
metabolized directly in the muscle and can be converted into energy to
prevent muscle catabolism. If you supplement with BCAAs the body does
not have to break down muscle tissue to derive extra energy. A study
conducted at the School of Human Biology, University of Guelph,
Ontario, Canada, confirmed that the use of BCAAs (up to 4 grams) during
and after exercise could result in a significant reduction of muscle
breakdown during exercise.
Amino acids are truly the building blocks
of muscle tissue and protein. We hope that the article clarifies the
importance of amino acid supplementation to your diet as well as
reinforce amino acids many physiological contributions to bodybuilding.
