We hear a lot about amino acids in our day to day lives, but how important are they?
Amino acids play roles in everything from building muscle to making sure your immune system is working.
Your body is hard at work making these amino acids so you can have functioning neurotransmitters and a consistent circulatory system.
However, your body often needs a boost from you to get all of the amino acids it needs.
That’s where a protein rich and varied diet comes in handy.
As part of your holistic nutrition diploma training online, you’ll discover much more about how amino acids work, but this article series can serve as a primer.
We started by exploring essential amino acids – which you need to get from your diet.
Next, we took a look at conditional essential amino acids – which your body produces itself, but can sometimes have difficulty in certain situations.
For this final part of our amino acid series, we’re going to explore nonessential amino acids.
But if they’re nonessential, why bother writing about them in the first place?
The name might not mean what you think it means.
Keep reading to find out more.
What Are Amino Acids?
Amino acids, also known as the building blocks of proteins, are the organic compounds that regulate many of your body’s processes.
From the urea cycle to nitrogen balance to creating neurotransmitters, amino acids play a role in many critical body functions.
Without these acids, which are composed primarily of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen, you’ll have a difficult time with many aspects of your health.
There are 20 amino acids that your body needs to function properly.
Of these, 9 are considered essential, which means that your body needs to get them from food.
Another eight are conditionally essential – this means they’re usually nonessential, but in cases of certain health conditions, your body may have trouble producing them.
Finally, there are nonessential amino acids.
What Are Nonessential Amino Acids?
Nonessential amino acids are created naturally by your body.
This means that while they are not essential for you to consider in your diet, they are still necessary for your body to function properly.
Nonessential amino acids are used by your body to resynthesize and build new proteins.
Various metabolic processes create nonessential amino acids, and they can even be made out of other amino acids.
From glucose production to storing excess calories, nonessential amino acids play critical roles in your body.
What are the nonessential amino acids?
Let’s take a look.
Alanine
Alanine helps to remove the toxic substances that occur when your body breaks down muscle protein (such as it does after intense exercise).
Blood glucose levels are also regulated in part by alanine.
Alanine assists with the production of lymphocytes, which help boost immune function.
Asparagine
Asparagine helps maintain the balance in your central nervous system.
It’s considered one of the most important amino acids for brain development.
A component of many proteins, asparagine is especially known for its role in glycoproteins, which support the structures of cells.
Aspartic Acid
Aspartic acid is known for playing a vital role synthesizing other amino acids.
This includes four of the essential amino acids: methionine, threonine, isoleucine, and lysine.
Many metabolic functions rely on aspartic acid, and it is part of a variety of enzymes.
Cysteine
Cysteine is full of beta carotene, which is in collagen and contributes to stronger, healthier hair and nail growth.
One of the most important roles of cysteine in your body is its role as a component in glutathione, which, like turmeric and goji berries, is an antioxidant that neutralizes free radicals in your body.
This is very important for keeping your liver healthy and can help prevent a number of different health conditions, including cancer, heart disease, and providing anti aging benefits.
RELATED: certified holistic cancer coach training program online
Glutamic Acid
Glutamic acid, also known as glutamate, is the most prevalent “excitatory” neurotransmitter in your central nervous system.
This means that it is vital for your neurotransmitters to communicate with each other.
Brain cell energy, metabolism, and regulating ammonia levels are all boosted by glutamic acid.
How To Make Sure You’re Getting Enough Nonessential Amino Acids
Even though your body makes these nonessential amino acids on its own, you shouldn’t overlook them when considering improving your diet.
When thinking about your diet and the essential amino acids you need to supplement, consider how to boost your nonessential ones as well.
Luckily, both of these categories of acids are boosted by the same types of foods.
You’ll want to make sure your diet is protein rich with a variety of different sources.
Animal proteins are one of the easiest venues for getting these nutrients: poultry, beef, and eggs are all wonderful sources of amino acids.
Less obvious, but just as important, are the plant based protein sources.
Categories for plant based proteins include: seeds and nuts, legumes, specific grains, and fruits and vegetables.
Some plant based proteins are even complete proteins on their own, like quinoa and soybeans.
Contact The Edison Institute Of Nutrition Today
Have you begun to journey down the rabbit hole of better health and nutrition?
Beginning to wonder if you might be able to help others with the knowledge you’ve started to build?
Are you dissatisfied with your career, and hoping to make a change?
If so, consider a career as a registered holistic nutritionist.
The Edison Institute of Nutrition can show you how.
We offer an online diploma program in holistic nutrition, as well as an introduction to holistic nutrition program, which is a condensed program for people who want to find out how to make better health decisions for themselves and their families.
Beyond that, though, we also offer a number of holistic nutrition continuing education units for both current holistic nutritionists and other healthcare providers, including:
- Introduction to muscle testing
- Live and dry blood cell microscopy training
- Metabolic balance training
- Holistic cancer coach certification program
- And much more
Contact the Edison Institute of Nutrition today to find out how you can get started with a new career as a holistic nutritionist.
