Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and are essential to every system in the body. From muscle growth to mood regulation, amino acids perform multiple functions that are necessary for survival. Making sure you are consuming amino acids is key to looking and feeling your best.
Essential vs Nonessential Amino Acids
There are 20 amino acids found in protein and they are divided into essential and nonessential amino acids. Essential amino acids can only be derived from food or supplementation, and are essential for your body to function properly. Nonessential amino acids are derived from food as well, but they can also be produced by your body. While it is helpful to consume nonessential amino acids, it’s not quite as crucial as ensuring you are getting enough essential amino acids.
Essential Amino Acids
Lysine: Performs an important role in the formation of tissues like collagen, and is involved in the production of certain hormones, enzymes, and proteins. Lysine assists in calcium absorption and retention, and helps to reduce cold sores.
Leucine: Generates ATP (cellular energy), and helps provide energy to muscles during exercise. Leucine helps with muscle growth and is involved in protein synthesis, tissue regeneration, and metabolism.
Isoleucine: Plays an important role in immune health, and helps with detoxification pathways, metabolism, and glucose transportation.
Tryptophan: Increases the neurotransmitter serotonin, helping to improve mood, and regulate sleep and appetite.
Phenylalanine: Involved in the production of neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine. It also aids in the production of other amino acids.
Threonine: Involved in the generation of collagen and elastin for skin. Threonine helps with digestion, metabolism, and liver health as well.
Valine: Increases endurance and muscle recovery. Valine supports healthy brain function and muscle coordination.
Histidine: Plays an important role in protecting and maintaining nerve health. Histidine is also involved in red blood cell creation.
Methionine: Is important in skin elasticity, and helps support healthy hair and nails. Methionine aids in the breakdown of fats, too.
Health Benefits of Essential Amino Acids
Build and Preserve Muscle
Amino acids are the fundamental building block for muscle tissue, and are essential to muscle growth and preservation. Ensuring that you are intaking amino acids, through diet or supplementation, is vital if you are looking to put on muscle. Also, we tend to lose muscle as we age, making amino acid intake even more important to preserve muscle tissue.
Supports Athletic Performance
Amino acids promote not only muscle growth, but strength and endurance as well. Whether you are going to the gym a few times a week or are a competitive athlete, amino acids can give you that extra edge. By helping to fight muscle fatigue during exercise and supporting your body’s energy levels, amino acids fuel a stronger and more effective workout.
Promotes Muscle Recovery
In addition to fueling your muscles during a workout, amino acids help you recover after a workout. Supplementing with amino acids can help reduce muscle soreness and fatigue post exercise, promoting a faster recovery period.
Aids in Weight loss
Amino acids can support healthy fat loss by building and preserving lean muscle tissue. Supplementing with amino acids can help curb your cravings, by providing your body with the nutrients it needs as well. When your body has the right amount of amino acids, you are less likely to give into that late night hankering.
Healthy Skin, Hair, and Nails
Collagen has become quite popular as an anti-aging supplement. But the real secret behind collagen is amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks for collagen and elastin, playing a large role in your skin integrity. Your hair and nails rely on amino acids for growth and strength. Supplementing with amino acids may help improve the appearance of your skin, hair, and nails.
Improves Digestive Health
A healthy digestive system relies on amino acids. They help to break down food, fuel the small intestine mucosa, and provide integrity for the intestinal barrier. Amino acids play a role in various metabolic functions and blood sugar regulation.
Boosts Immune Health
The immune system is also fueled by amino acids. They provide nutrients for immune cells, and are involved in the signaling of immune cells. Both of these processes are essential for a healthy immune system.
Regulates Mood
Amino acids play a role in mood and mental health by helping to synthesize neurotransmitter production. In particular, serotonin helps to alleviate depression, anxiety, and promotes feelings of happiness. Lack of amino acids can lead to a deficiency in neurotransmitter production and greatly affect one’s mental health.
Contributes to Sleep
In addition to boosting mood, amino acids can help contribute to a good night’s sleep by their involvement in the sleep wake cycle. Helping with sleep regulation, supplementing with amino acids can help alleviate insomnia and restless sleep.
Physical and Mental Energy
Overall amino acids provide a source of energy for the body. By generating ATP, the molecule that carries energy to the cell, amino acids are constantly fueling nearly every system in your body for both physical and mental energy.
Getting Enough Amino Acids
Needless to say, your amino acids intake is vital to maintaining a healthy functioning body and mind. Amino acids are found in a wide variety of food that contains protein like meat, eggs, dairy, certain grains, nuts, beans, and even a wide variety of vegetables. Eating enough protein is usually not an issue, as it is found in such an array of foods. The question is not “How much protein are you eating?” It’s “How much protein are you absorbing?” Consuming protein and absorbing it are two different things.
Your body can only absorb so much protein at once. So even if you eat a giant steak, you won’t actually absorb all the protein from that steak. Also, if you have any compromise in your digestive system it can make absorbing all the nutrients from your food difficult. Whatever we eat has to go through a long digestive process that involves the breaking down of those nutrients to be properly utilized by the body. When digestion is weak, this process can be difficult and lead to malabsorption in some cases. Working on creating a healthy gut environment is key to improving digestion and getting the most nutrients out of your food.
Supplementing Amino Acids
Supplementing with amino acids can help replace any that may have been lost in the digestive process. While amino acids powders and drinks are a popular way to supplement amino acids, they still have to go through the digestive process to be absorbed.
At Healus, we bypass the digestive process completely by utilizing suppositories as a way to deliver amino acids into the body. Suppositories are the most efficient and easy way to absorb amino acids directly into your bloodstream within 20 minutes. Developed in our clinical practice, we began making amino acid suppositories for athletes to help support their performance and fuel their recovery. It soon became a staple for anyone looking to improve their fitness and support their weight loss goals.
Knowing how important amino acids are to every cellular function in the body, our suppositories have become an important and efficient way to meet that need. Whether you choose to supplement your amino acids, or get it all from your diet, ensuring that you are meeting your body’s amino acid needs is fundamental to maintaining a healthy body and mind.
Try Amino Advantage Suppositories here.
