AMINO ACIDS Part 1

INTRODUCTION

Drugs influence almost every bodily function. Some accelerate wound healing, others provide the raw materials for brain chem-icals that may treat depression or a mental illness. The innumer-able others juggle our internal chemistry in ways that prevent epileptic seizures, lower blood pressure, numb irritated nerves and wake up a sluggish immune system, to mention just a few examples.

Amino acids do precisely the same things. The only difference is that they work naturally by providing the body with what it needs to do its job, but without the ever-present risk of side effects from medications (which work by preventing the body from doing one of its jobs). To maintain health, improve health and correct illnesses, we need them, and in quantities and combinations that food can’t provide. When a so-called nutrition expert contends that we get plenty of amino acids from the protein in our food, you can bet that the assertion is backed up by the latest cutting-edge knowledge of the 1950s. If the expert warns that amino acid supplements are hazardous, you can interpret the statement as a roundabout admission of their therapeutic ability.

WHEN ‘NONESSENTIAL’ IS INDISPENSABLE

Without different combinations of amino acids, hair would be indistinguishable from the heart, among other unseemly possi-bilities. Just as letters of the alphabet form every word in the dictionary, these chemicals congregate in an endless array of ways to form protein molecules that influence and define the body’s every cell.

You’ve all heard, I’m sure, of the eight ‘essential’ amino acids. I won’t bother to list them. Their designation, in number and name, is misleading. Yes, those nutrients are essential, but medicine doesn’t work from the same dictionary that you and I use. In the narrow official definition, the same one applied to vitamins, ‘essential’ means that the body can’t manufacture the amino acids on its own from other raw materials. It must get them ready-made from food or supplements.

This characterization, besides making no allowance for quan-tity, implies that the other ‘nonessential’ amino acids are insignificant or of little importance. Few things could be further from the truth. Taurine, glutamine, arginine and the rest of this supposedly dispensable bunch are among our most valuable medicinal nutrients. Sure, the body manufactures them from other biochemicals, although only in amounts determined by the availability of the other ingredients. Often the raw resources are either in short supply or missing altogether.

We’re going to take a close look at the remedial potential of many key amino acids, including more than the eight that we get only through diet. In addition to quantity, the key to these, well, essential substances is balance. Just as a football team can’t show up for a game with extra strikers but no goalkeeper, so must the amino acids appear in proper proportions. In the wrong ratio, the body can’t synthesize as much protein for our muscles, organs, skin and other lean tissue. If even one is undersupplied, the other seven will be metabolized inadequately.

Blood analyses are a valuable, albeit expensive and often impractical method for disclosing amino acid imbalances. A good rule of thumb is that animal protein, such as from beef, fish, fowl and eggs, provides a better balance than do vegeta-bles, because meat contains each of the essential eight in the correct amounts. One or more of the octet will be missin from , plant foods or won’t appear in the necessary quantity. That’s why vegetables are said to have a lower ‘protein efficiency rah’. For example, a diet centred around soya very well could be low in the essential amino acid methionine, giving you less of a complete protein bang for your mealtime buck. Many strict vegetarians, notably those who shun eggs and dairy products frequently need amino acid supplements because their food choices don’t supply enough lysine, thyronine and methionine to deal adequately with stress.

Some vegetarians advocate designing meals so that some foods compensate for proteins absent in others. A bean-grain casserole, for instance, supposedly gives the body a complete set of essential amino acids. This practice can provide a little extra complete protein, but animal food remains the wisest choice. And this brings me to my favourite protein choice: the egg. Maligned – wrongly – as it may be, the egg contains all essential amino acids in near perfect balance. Its amino acid ratio, in fact, is the officially accepted standard upon which all other protein sources are judged. For someone who lacks any given amino acid, eating eggs tops my list of dietary recommenda-tions.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Allow me to backtrack and examine some of medicine’s most vital prescriptions.