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Article: Protein
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- Nutrition and Well-Being A to Z
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 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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Protein
Proteins
are compounds composed of carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen
, and
nitrogen
, which are arranged as strands of
amino acids
. They play an essential role in the cellular maintenance, growth, and functioning of the human body. Serving as the basic structural molecule of all the tissues in the body, protein makes up nearly 17 percent of the total body weight. To understand protein's role and function in the human body, it is important to understand its basic structure and composition.
Amino Acids
Amino acids are the fundamental building blocks of protein. Long chains of amino acids, called
polypeptides,
make up the multicomponent, large complexes of protein. The arrangement ...