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Protein Diet - The Healthy Way Of Living
By: Kevin Pederson
You need protein for the repair and growth of the body. Protein is composed of chains of amino acids. There are only twenty common amino acids but they are combined in nature in an infinite number of ways so that proteins differ in structure and in their enzymatic qualities.
In the old days scientists spoke of first and second class proteins. Today we know that out of the twenty amino acids, eight are essential in that the adult cannot make them in the body, and the rest are called nonessential because they can be made from the essential ones. (Article Continues Below)
One more amino acid, histidine, is needed for growing infants, and so is essential to begin with, but not later on. It is a mistake to think of the non-essential amino acids as being without value, for they too are found in the cells of our bodies; it is only that we can do without them if we have to. The essential amino acids are: isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine. Most vegetable sources of protein are lacking in one or other of the essential amino acids, but eggs, milk, meat and fish contain all the amino acids in the correct proportions. However if you mix grains, seeds, pulses, nuts and legumes so that your diet is not consisting of a single type of vegetable protein, then the biological value of the mixture is excellent. (Article Continues Below)
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