Amino Acids

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and therefore crucial for our body, which consists of around 20% protein. They play a key role in almost all biochemical processes, from cell and energy metabolism to cell communication.

There are twenty that occur in human proteins. Eight of them are essential: isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine. These must come from your diet. Arginine and histidine are semi-essential; the body makes the rest itself.

Amino acids occur in two mirror-image forms, like a left and a right hand: the L-form from laevo, left, and the D-form from dextro, right. The same atoms, a different spatial arrangement, and therefore different behaviour in the body.

Virtually all amino acids in our body are L-forms, and so are most supplements. Sometimes the D-form is chosen specifically for its properties, as with D-serine. So that letter on the label is not a minor detail.

A protein powder provides all the amino acids from that source at once, in the ratio in which they occur in the protein. A single amino acid provides one substance in a much higher amount than you get from food. That is the difference between supplementing and targeted dosing.

Individual amino acids are often offered in free form, which means they are not attached to a protein chain and therefore do not first need to be broken down. Some are therefore taken on an empty stomach, others with a meal. Each product page states what applies to that product.

Among others, acetyl-L-carnitine, which occurs in the body mainly in the muscles and the heart muscle, and N-acetyl cysteine, known as NAC and a building block for glutathione. Also L-theanine, glycine, taurine, L-tyrosine and zinc L-carnosine.

Sometimes amino acids are offered in combination, such as the BCAAs: leucine, isoleucine and valine, the three branched-chain amino acids that are popular with athletes. This collection overlaps with Nootropics and Sport and fitness.