Protein Facts
- Amino Acids - The building blocks of proteins.
- Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) - Is the name give to 3 of the 8 essential amino acids: Leucine, IsoLeucine, and Valine.
- Catabolism - A metabolic condition in which muscle is broken down and energy is released.
- Complete Protein - A source of protein that contains an adequate amount of all the essential amino acids for dietary needs.
- Essential Amino Acids (EAA) - Are amino acids that can only be obtained through food. There are 8 essential amino acids: Phenylalanine, Valine, Theronine, Tryptophan, Isoleucine, Methionine, Leucine, and Lysine.
- Nonessential Amino Acids (NEAA) - Can be obtained through food and also from other protein and nutrients in the body. These nonessential amino acids include: Alanine, Arginine, Aspartic Acid, Cysteine, Cystine, Glutamic Acid, Glutamine, Glycine, Proline, Serine, Threonine, Tyrosine.
- Protein - Main function is to repair muscles and tissue. Protein is a source of energy. They contain Amino Acids (building blocks of protein). They contain 4 calories/gram.
Why do we need Protein?
Protein is the most important nutrient your body needs for muscle growth and repair. Proteins are made up of amino acids. After your workouts, your body is in dire need of amino acids to build and repair your muscles. The way to provide your muscles with amino acids is by consuming different sources of protein through food or supplementation.
After your fitness session, muscle growth is started by insulin’s transport of amino acids into the muscle tissues. For this reason, it is very important to have a high glycemic carbohydrate after your workout along with a fast digesting quality protein source. As you have read in Carb Facts, high glycemic carbs create a fast rise in blood glucose levels. To counter the sudden rise in blood glucose levels, the body releases insulin into the system to balance it out. Right after your workout, your body is craving a good supply of protein to help with the repairing of your muscles. By creating a fast insulin response, you are ensuring that the protein you intake will be transported and used in the muscles as fast as possible. This is the one and only time you would want to consume a high glycemic carbohydrate.
Essential Amino Acids
It’s important to consume a wide variety of protein sources to make sure you are getting all of the necessary amino acids into your system. Animal Protein sources (meat, milk, poultry, fish, cheese, eggs, and yogurt) are high quality proteins that contain all of the essential amino acids. Proteins that come from plants (legumes, grains, and vegetables) lack some of essential amino acids, therefore making this type of protein incomplete.
There are 8 essential amino acids. These amino acids include: Phenylalanine, Valine, Theronine, Tryptophan, Isoleucine, Methionine, Leucine, and Lysine. They are called essential not because they are more important than the nonessential amino acids, but because they cannot be formed in the body at rate that will be efficient enough to meet your bodies demands. In other words, they must be obtained through food.
Nonessential Amino Acids
Unlike essential amino acids, nonessential amino acids can be obtained through protein and other nutrients in the body. They can also be obtained through food. The name nonessential can be misleading. They are just important as essential amino acids. The only difference is that nonessential amino acids can be obtained from proteins and nutrients already in the body.
The nonessential amino acids include: Alanine, Arginine, Aspartic Acid, Cysteine, Cystine, Glutamic Acid, Glutamine, Glycine, Proline, Serine, Threonine, Tyrosine.
Branched Chain Amino Acids
Branched-chain amino acids, BCAA, include Leucine, IsoLeucine, and Valine. These 3 amino acids make up about 1/3 of the skeletal muscle in your body. The body can supply itself with these BCAAs by breaking down muscle in the body. By ingesting BCAAs before and after your workout sessions, you can help prevent catabolism, maintain muscle tissue, and preserve muscle glycogen. Since BCAAs preserve glycogen levels and prevent catabolism, by consuming a sufficient amount of BCAAs before and after your workout, you can help prevent your body from obtaining the BCAAs from your skeletal muscles. By not using the muscle glycogen, it helps the body maintain muscle volume and prevent muscle break down. For people who exercise regularly with weights and cardio, it’s important for you to supplement or consume food that contain BCAAs due to the high demand you create to replenish your glycogen levels.
References
- http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/beast4.htm
- http://www.healthnews.com/natural-health/amino-acids/branched-chain-amino-acids-516
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein
- Macrobolic Nutrition - By Gerard Dente with Kevin J. Hopkins