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Article: Amino Acids
- Article from:
- Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 The Gale Group, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Amino acids
Description
Amino acids are known as the building blocks of protein, and are defined as the group of nitrogen-containing organic compounds composing the structure of proteins. They are essential to human metabolism, and to making the human body function properly for good health. Of the 28 amino acids known to exist, eight of them are considered "essential," defined as those that can be obtained only through food. These essential amino acids are tryptophan,
lysine, methionine
, phenylalaine, threonine, valine, leucine, and isoleucine. The "non
–
essential" amino acids include
arginine
, tyrosine, glycine, serine, glutmamic acid, aspartic acid, taurine, cycstine, ...