Want to know what nonessential and essential amino acids are? Then this is the place for you. Read the article to the end, and you will find out what amino acids are, why amino acids are essential and non-essential, what is the human need for essential amino acids, and from what foods can they be obtained. Galina Baeva and essential and essential amino acids are with you.
Amino acids are chemical compounds that have an acidic carboxyl tail C-O-OH and an amino group -NH2, which necessarily includes nitrogen.
Squirrels
Among the organic compounds of the cell, proteins are the most important.
The protein content in the cell ranges from 50% to 80%. Proteins are high molecular weight organic compounds that consist of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur and nitrogen. Some proteins contain phosphorus and metal cations.
Proteins are biopolymers that consist of amino acid monomers. Their molecular weight varies from several thousand to several millions, depending on the number of amino acid residues.
Proteins contain only 20 types of amino acids out of 170 found in living organisms.
How to prevent amino acid deficiency
Control over a balanced and regular diet is the basis for maintaining the amino acid composition at the desired level. But this is not always possible, and here's why. If you use only food, it is impossible to put only amino acids on your plate. You also have to take into account the calorie content of the meal, the content of fats, carbohydrates, fiber, etc. As a result, the number of amino acids consumed may be limited to two or three, but be seriously “burdened” with extra calories. This problem is especially relevant for athletes, people watching their figure, and those for whom fatty or high-calorie foods are undesirable from a health point of view.
Amino acids
Amino acids (see Fig. 1) are organic compounds in the molecules of which there is simultaneously an amino group () with basic properties and a carboxyl group () with acidic properties. The part of the molecule called the radical (R) has a different structure for different amino acids.
Rice. 1. Amino acid
Depending on the radical, amino acids are divided into (see Fig. 2):
1. acidic (carboxyl group in the radical);
2. basic (amino group in the radical);
3. neutral (do not have charged radicals).
Rice. 2. Classification of amino acids
Amino acids are connected to each other through peptide bonds. This bond is formed by releasing a water molecule when the amino group of one amino acid reacts with the carboxyl group of another amino acid. The reaction that occurs with the release of water is called a condensation reaction , and the resulting covalent nitrogen-carbon bond is called a peptide bond.
Rice. 3. Dipeptide
The compounds formed by the condensation of two amino acids are a dipeptide (see Figure 3). At one end of its molecule there is an amino group, and at the other there is a free carboxyl group. Thanks to this, the dipeptide can attach other molecules to itself. If many amino acids are combined in this way, a polypeptide (see Fig. 4).
Rice. 4. Polypeptide
Polypeptide chains can be very long and can consist of various amino acids. A protein molecule can contain either one polypeptide chain or several such chains.
Many animals, including humans, unlike bacteria and plants, cannot synthesize all the amino acids that make up protein molecules. That is, there are a number of essential amino acids that must be supplied with food.
Essential amino acids include: lysine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, threonine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, tyrosine, methionine.
Amino acid score table
There is no need to memorize the entire table of the amino acid score of plant products (animal products, as already written, do not have limiting essential amino acids, and their amino acid score is practically unimportant). Just remember that almost all legumes have problems with methionine, and cereals have problems with lysine. A combination of certain cereals and legumes will not only eliminate this problem, but will also solve the problem with the amount of protein in the diet. After all, legumes contain more protein than meat products. True, the digestibility of legumes is far from the digestibility of other protein products.
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The value of free amino acids
Every year, the world produces more than two hundred thousand tons of amino acids, which are used in practical human activities. They are used in medicine, perfumery, cosmetics, and agriculture.
Glutamic acid and lysine are produced to a greater extent, as well as glycine and methionine.
Purpose of amino acids
1. Glutamic acid
It is used in psychiatry (for epilepsy, for the treatment of dementia and the consequences of birth injuries), in the complex therapy of peptic ulcers and for hypoxia. It also improves the taste of meat products.
2. Aspartic acid
Aspartic acid helps increase oxygen consumption by the heart muscle. In cardiology, panangin is used, a drug containing potassium aspartate and magnesium aspartate. Panangin is used to treat various types of arrhythmias, as well as coronary heart disease.
3. Methionine
Protects the body in case of poisoning with bacterial endotoxins and some other poisons; therefore, it is used to protect the body from environmental toxicants. Has radioprotective properties.
4. Glycine
It is a mediator of inhibition in the central nervous system. Used as a sedative and used in the treatment of chronic alcoholism.
5. Lysine
Basic food and feed additive. Used as antioxidants in the food industry (prevents food spoilage).
What is amino acid score
Amino acid score is an indicator of the ratio of a certain essential amino acid in a product to the same amino acid in an artificial ideal protein. (An ideal protein is a ratio of essential amino acids that allows the body to easily renew certain internal structures.) The amino acid score is calculated by dividing the amount of a certain essential amino acid in a product by the amount of the same amino acid in an ideal protein. The data obtained is then multiplied by 100 to obtain the amino acid score of the amino acid being studied.
Peptides
The difference between proteins and peptides is the number of amino acid residues. There are more than 50 of them in proteins, and less than 50 in peptides.
Currently, several hundred different peptides have been isolated that perform an independent physiological role in the body.
Peptides include:
1. Peptide antibiotics (gramicidin S).
2. Regulatory peptides are substances that regulate many chemical reactions in the cells and tissues of the body. These include: peptide hormones (insulin), oxytocin, which stimulates smooth muscle contraction.
3. Neuropeptides.
Natural Sources of Amino Acids
- Alanine: beef, pork, eggs, milk, rice, soy, oats, corn
- Arginine can be obtained from meat, fish, nuts, soy, oats, wheat, rice
- Aspartic acid and asparagine: eggs, meat, peanuts, potatoes, coconut
- Valine is an essential amino acid, found in large quantities in soy, meat, fish, eggs, milk, hazelnuts, oats, rice.
- Histidine. In the human body, histidine is synthesized in limited quantities. It is found in bananas, fish, beef
- Glycine. Sources include beef, liver, peanuts, oats
- Glutamic acid and glutamine are found in wheat, rye, milk, potatoes, walnuts, meat, soybeans
- Isoleucine is an essential amino acid. Sources: soy, meat, fish, eggs, milk, hazelnuts
- Leucine is a proteinogenic essential amino acid. Sources: soy, meat, fish, oats, eggs, milk, hazelnuts, corn, millet
- Lysine is an essential amino acid. Vegetable proteins contain little lysine. Sources: soy, meat, fish, eggs, milk, lentils, wheat
- Methionine is an essential proteinogenic amino acid. Sources: meat, fish, liver, eggs, corn
- Proline is an essential proteinogenic amino acid. Sources: milk, wheat, fruits, found in large quantities in fruit juices (up to 2.5 g/l of orange juice)
- Serine is a proteinogenic essential amino acid. Sources: milk, eggs, oats, corn
- Tyrosine is a proteinogenic essential amino acid. Sources: milk, peas, eggs, peanuts, beans.
- Threonine is an essential proteinogenic amino acid, the need for which is especially great in children. Sources: milk, eggs, peas, wheat, beef, fish
- Tryptophan is an essential amino acid. There is little tryptophan in plant proteins. Sources: soy, meat (especially liver), fish, eggs, milk
- Phenylalanine is an essential proteinogenic amino acid. Sources: soy, meat, fish, eggs, milk, hazelnuts, peanuts,
- Cysteine, cystine is an essential proteinogenic amino acid. Sources: eggs, oats, corn
Biological value of food products and the content of essential amino acids in them (mg\100 g)
When entering the gastrointestinal tract, proteins break down into their component parts and are absorbed into the blood in the form of separate small fragments. In the body, individual amino acids into which food proteins are broken down form their own proteins. Proteins in the human body differ significantly in composition from food proteins, which is why food must be varied in order to satisfy the body's need for all nutrients.
Amino acid composition of some simple proteins
Egg albumin and milk casein are considered the most balanced proteins in terms of amino acid composition, but how different their composition is from the composition of various proteins in the human body. So for the synthesis of thymus protein and blood globulin there is not enough tryptophan and valine contained in eggs and milk, for the synthesis of insulin there is not enough phenylalanine and valine, for the formation of blood albumin there is not enough lysine and phenylalanine and again valine. This means that when consuming eggs and milk alone as sources of essential amino acids, the body will still not receive enough of them, and in order to make up for the deficiency it will begin to destroy its own proteins, i.e. devour itself, which will inevitably lead to a decrease in immunity, a decrease in muscle mass, and in the long term - to premature aging.
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Protein classification
Depending on their structure, simple and complex proteins are distinguished.
1. Simple proteins consist only of the protein part.
2. Complex ones have a non-protein part.
If a carbohydrate is used as a non-protein part, then these are glycoproteins .
If lipids are used as the non-protein part, then these are lipoproteins.
If nucleic acids are used as the non-protein part, then these are nucleoproteins .
Limiting amino acid - does it exist?
Many of our clients, taking care of feeding their animals, try to provide them with all the necessary protein and energy components of the diet. But it is not enough to provide just energy and just protein; every owner of a dairy herd has long known that there must be a lot of components to satisfy all the needs of the body and this is provided by different sources.
When talking about energy, we think: starch, fat, fiber, sugar... and all of this is of varying degrees of absorption) And in protein feeding - protein and, as a rule, when planning feeding, we want to provide the animals with microbial and bypass protein to the fullest extent. The first is required by rumen microorganisms for protein synthesis, while the second meets the needs of cows. However, it should always be remembered that amino acids (AA) are the building blocks of protein, and that the supply of both sources must meet the requirements for essential AA for optimal animal performance. All world experts have long come to the conclusion that the amino acid balance of dairy diets is extremely important. . However, in addition to participating in protein synthesis, these amino acids themselves play an important role in the regulation of many other physiological processes. At the moment, the biological functions of methionine are the most studied in ruminants. The benefits of amino acid balancing are clear and include improved milk performance, improved fertility, liver function and optimized immune and antioxidant status to support animal health during the transition period, easier transition, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and overall profitability.
AMTS has of course previously published material on the importance of amino acids in dairy cattle nutrition. Dr. Mark Hanigan read just such a webinar. 4 diets were given as an example
Ratsona HH, HL, LH, LL differed in energy and metabolic protein content, as indicated in the figure. Milk production, protein utilization efficiency, and MUN—milk urea nitrogen, which assesses how protein is utilized, including protein form, rumen fermentable carbohydrate levels, and rumen efficiency—were assessed. We see that milk is predictable, which cannot be said about the efficiency of protein use and, accordingly, the release of urea into milk.
AMTS employees and partners studied how important individual amino acids are in cattle feeding and are there any limiting ones among them?
Based on the presented diagram, the following conclusions were drawn:
- In the diet, energy and MP are independent and additive;
- RPAA supplements are independent and additive in cattle, while AA is in monogastric animals;
- Animal-level modeling shows independent and additive responses to energy and amino acid level modeling4
- At the mammary gland level, responses to energy and AA are independent and additive.
Often companies interested in selling amino acids as supplements compare the amino acid requirements of dairy cattle with a barrel, where the shortest board is the limiting amino acids. Dr. Hanigan sees the impact of amino acids this way.
Leak in the barrel. (in the picture this is milk protein)
- The more nutrients in the barrel, the more milk. (yield)
- The more nutrients in the barrel, the greater the pressure and “leakage” of protein.
- The size of each leak depends on the nutrient composition.
- ANY leak will prevent the barrel from filling (meaning every single component that affects the result)
To summarize, we can say that each of the components of the diet can become limiting! If the standards are not met. This means that when planning a diet, we do not have the right to focus on one of the protein components that form milk productivity and milk protein. Every deviation can be a limiting factor. Observing one, we may not understand why there is no result. And a comprehensive diet analysis can only be done in modern model programs for diet analysis.
Do you want to create rations for your animals using a modern feed modeling program?
Contact Progressive Farms or submit a request on the website:
Also, Progressive Farms specialists will be happy to calculate the cost of feed raw materials available to your farm. Contact us!
For this
Important! Indicate the maximum amount of feed raw materials available in your region with prices!
Before creating a diet, you need to make sure that the cost of the selected ingredients for your farm is the lowest. Remember, each feed ingredient has its own limit on use, and therefore it is important not to “overdo” the cheapest components in the diet. If you choose the limit of the cheapest one, take the next, less expensive component. Also consider component synchronization. Use advanced software, and our analytics will help you set your priorities correctly
