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Amino Acids in Food: These are The Most Important Ones

Humans and animals cannot live without amino acids from food. We will show you which important functions they fulfill in our organism and which foods provide you with the essential amino acids.

The most important amino acids for us humans

Amino acids are chemical compounds that are vital for every organism. However, an amino acid does not stand alone, but joins together with others to form a chain. Proteins are formed from these chains. Therefore, amino acids are also referred to as the “building blocks” of proteins.

Depending on the structure of the chain, different proteins are formed that fulfill different functions in our organism. If there is a deficiency of one or more specific amino acids, the chains can no longer form completely, so that the function of all proteins in the body is restricted.

The body can produce some amino acids itself. Others we have to ingest daily through food. The following eight amino acids are also referred to as “essential amino acids” and are found in various foods:
isoleucine
valine
methionine
leucine
tryptophan
lysine
phenylalanine
threonine

Amino acids in food: methionine

The body needs the sulfur-containing amino acid methionine to produce the non-essential amino acid cysteine. We also need them for the construction of some protein molecules and for various metabolic processes to take place. As an antioxidant, methionine also neutralizes free radicals and thus protects us from oxidative stress.

A healthy adult should consume about 21mg of methionine per pound of body weight. However, with certain diseases, especially liver and urinary tract diseases, the daily requirement for methionine can increase.

Foods that are particularly rich in the amino acid methionine:
brazil nuts
sesame
soybeans
Peas
green leafy vegetables (e.g. spinach)
broccoli
In general, vegetable proteins consist of 0.5 to 2 percent methionine. The daily requirement for the amino acid is around 1.1 to 2.2 grams. If you only get a small amount of cysteine ​​from food, you need a little more methionine because some of it is converted to cysteine.

Note: Animal products contain significant amounts of essential amino acids. However, the consumption of animal products is usually not sustainable and involves a lot of animal suffering. That’s why you should get most of your amino acids from plant-based foods.

Amino acid in food for a good mood: tryptophan

Tryptophan is particularly known for its mood-enhancing, calming and balancing effects. Because the body converts the amino acid to the neurotransmitter serotonin. This so-called happiness or feel-good hormone ensures a relaxed and balanced state of mind. Therefore, tryptophan is also considered a natural remedy for depressive disorders.

In addition, the amino acid is essential for a healthy sleep rhythm. This is because excess serotonin is subsequently converted into the sleep hormone melatonin. This regulates our sleeping and waking phases and thus ensures restful nights. Tryptophan also functions as a provitamin in the synthesis of vitamin B3, also known as niacin.

The daily requirement of tryptophan can vary greatly from person to person. The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment gives four to five milligrams per kilogram of body weight as a guideline.

(Plant based) foods that are considered a good source of the amino acid tryptophan:
soybeans
cashew nuts
peanuts
lenses
oatmeal
cocoa
Note: We recommend that you use organic products for a balanced diet and, above all, that you buy food from the region. In this way you avoid unnecessary pesticides and superfluous transport routes. This reduces your carbon footprint.

Amino acid for skin and bones: lysine in food

Together with some other amino acids, lysine is responsible for the formation of collagen. Collagen is a protein that is primarily responsible for building connective tissue. Lysine also promotes cell division and bone growth. These functions make the amino acid, among other things, an indispensable factor for rapid and successful wound healing.

As with most amino acids, the recommended daily dose for lysine can only be roughly specified. According to the WHO, the values ​​are between twelve and 45 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.

You get the amino acid lysine mainly from these plant foods:
legumes
nuts
brewer’s yeast
Spirulina Algae
wheat germ

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Fish Oil for the Supply of Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Fish oil is a fatty oil made from various types of fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, anchovies, herring, or mackerel. They contain a high percentage of the polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

High-fat fish is considered one of the best sources of unsaturated fat, but meat, vegetable oils, nuts, and avocados are also high in these long-chain, healthy fats. Supplemented with vitamin E, which binds individual oxygen particles – the so-called free radicals – in the body and thus helps to prevent inflammation.

Supply of the body with unsaturated fatty acids

Anyone who doesn’t like fish but suffers from arteriosclerosis – the increasing narrowing and stiffening of blood vessels due to cholesterol deposits – could use fish oil to improve the transport of oxygenated blood. Unsaturated fatty acids support the flexibility of the cell membrane, and the brain also consists largely of fats. The polyunsaturated DHA plays a key role here. In addition, unsaturated fatty acids have an anti-inflammatory effect, are precursors of hormones, and ensure increased cell division.

Unsaturated fatty acids – often also referred to as “good fatty acids” – have a high proportion of omega-3 fatty acids or alpha-linolenic acid and omega-6 fatty acids or linoleic acid, which are considered good fats from a health point of view because they help lower cholesterol levels in the body. If the cholesterol level in the body is too high, cardiovascular diseases are the result. Therefore, many doctors are demanding that such fats should be included in the diet – also because the human body cannot produce them itself, but has to absorb them through food.

Fats are necessary for everybody – they provide energy and, together with proteins and carbohydrates, are one of the three basic building blocks of human nutrition. But the fats are also divided into three groups:

Saturated Fatty Acids

Saturated fatty acids consist primarily of highly processed animal fats. Butter and cheese are classic examples here. If too much butter is consumed, the cholesterol level of the damaging LDL cholesterol in the blood rises.

Monounsaturated fatty acids

Monounsaturated fatty acids can be produced by the body itself, but are also found in rapeseed and olive oil. With their help, the blood cholesterol level can be neutralized again or at least improved.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids

Polyunsaturated fatty acids are essential, i.e. they cannot be produced by the body itself. It is, therefore, necessary to supply them with food. Omega-6 fatty acids are mainly found in high-quality vegetable oils.

The “German Society for Nutrition” (DGE) recommends that between 7 and 10 percent of the total daily energy intake should consist of unsaturated fatty acids. However, studies have shown that people are increasingly consuming so-called “bad” or “saturated” fats and that this eating behavior leads to more health problems.

Fish oil for the supply of unsaturated fatty acids

Longer-term studies observing the effects of regular fish consumption (once or twice a week) have clearly shown heart health benefits. If you like to eat fish, however, you should not resort to dietary supplements such as fish oil, but adjust your own diet accordingly. If you can’t taste fatty fish and seafood and still want to eat more unsaturated fatty acids, there is high-quality fish oil for you or you can reduce your meat consumption.

Fish oil also has an antithrombotic and anti-inflammatory effect. As a dietary supplement, it is taken in the form of soft capsules to ensure a sufficient supply of essential omega-3 fatty acids and to prevent cardiovascular diseases. Omega-3 fatty acids are also a good way to achieve healthy cholesterol levels. However, fish oil capsules can also lead to side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, or belching.

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Omega-3 Fatty Acids: The Fat is Important, The Capsules Are Expensive

Omega-3 fatty acids are supposed to be important in some way. But does that also apply to fish oil dragees and omega-3 capsules? And what is the role of omega-3 fatty acids anyway?

The benefit is simply not sufficiently proven. This applies to healthy people as well as to high-risk patients who have already had a heart attack. The experts also found insufficient evidence for other areas of application such as the prevention of dementia or age-related eye diseases.

This is important because many people spend a lot on omega-3 fatty acids, up to 90 cents a day. According to the test, the need for omega-3 fatty acids can be met even without fish, for example with rapeseed and linseed oil or walnuts. According to the German Society for Nutrition, people in this country are adequately supplied with plant-based omega-3 fatty acids.

Background: Omega 3 and fatty acids

Basically, you have to distinguish between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. The omega-3 fatty acids belong to the group of unsaturated fatty acids.

Saturated fats are easy to recognize: they are solid at room temperature. This includes all animal fats and, for example, palm oil. Saturated fatty acids are not essential to life, and if consumed in excess, they are even considered harmful, partly because of their increasing effect on blood cholesterol levels.
Unsaturated fats are more complicated because there are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fatty acids are found, for example, in olive oil, canola oil and many nuts and seeds. The body is able to produce these monounsaturated fatty acids itself; they are therefore not essential.
The polyunsaturated fatty acids include omega-3 fatty acids such as α-linolenic acid and also omega-6 fatty acids such as linoleic acid, which is contained in safflower oil or sunflower oil. The body cannot produce polyunsaturated fatty acids – such as linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid – so they are essential.

The three omega-3 fatty acids

Does the “omega-3” fatty acid even exist? No: In reality there are many different ones, of which only three are well known because they are particularly important for the human metabolism:
α-linolenic acid,
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and
Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).
Vegetable food contains almost exclusively α-linolenic acid, fatty fish such as eel, herring or sardines contain DHA and EPA. There is a herbal exception for DHA and EPA: algae. Red algae in particular contain the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids otherwise only found in fish.

Function of omega-3 fatty acids

The list of processes in which omega-3 fatty acids are involved in the body and their properties is long. However, this shows how important such high-quality fats are for our body – it just doesn’t work completely without fat. The omega-3 fatty acids are involved in

the structure of cell membranes,
the hormone production,
the correct function of eyes, nerves and muscles.
Omega-3 fatty acids improve blood flow,
prevent thrombosis,
work against inflammation,
support the immune system,
promote blood circulation,
EPA and DHA fatty acids lower blood lipid levels,
α-linolenic acid ensures bone stability,
DHA DHA lowers blood pressure and supports fetal brain development.
Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
This list is just a sample of the many functions of omega-3 fatty acids, showing how important these essential fatty acids are to the human body.

Omega 3 deficiency?

A lack of essential fatty acids leads to various deficiency symptoms such as skin changes (excessive keratinization), susceptibility to infections, growth disorders, hair loss and a lack of blood platelets. However, what is not immediately “visible” and therefore difficult to understand is the fact that patients with various diseases have very low levels of fatty acids. These include the following diseases:
depression
breast cancer
Alzheimer’s and dementia
schizophrenia
ADHD
The scientific studies have not yet been completed, but initial results indicate that inflammatory bowel diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and asthma are also positively influenced by omega-3 fatty acids and that a lack of fatty acids aggravates the course of the disease.

Omega-3 overdose

There is a study that suggests that consuming too much α-linolenic acid increases the risk of developing prostate cancer. However, this study did not come to a conclusive result, so that further research is currently being carried out. If too many omega-3 fatty acids are ingested – for example through omega-3 capsules – nausea and vomiting can occur and the “good” HDL cholesterol can be reduced. There are no other clearly documented side effects of excessive intake of omega-3 fatty acids.

Daily requirement of omega-3 fatty acids

There is no uniform information on the daily requirement for omega-3 fatty acids. For α-linolenic acid, the German Society for Nutrition (DGE) states that 0.5 percent of the daily energy intake should be covered by α-linolenic acid. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) states that a daily consumption of 250 milligrams of EPA and/or DHA is recommended, while US health and government organizations with values ​​of 100 to 600 milligrams of EPA/DHA are well above the European recommendations . The DGE recommends that pregnant women take in at least 200 milligrams of DHA per day.

Which foods contain fatty acids?

As already mentioned at the beginning, α-linolenic acid is generally found in plant foods such as flaxseed or walnuts. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are found in oily fish such as eel, herring or sardines and also in algae such as the microalgae Schizochytrium and Ulkenia. To some extent, α-linolenic acid can be converted to DHA and EPA, but the conversion is limited.

However, it is not only the intake of such essential fatty acids through our food that is decisive, but also that the ratio of these fatty acids to one another is optimal. The higher the proportion of omega-3 fatty acids and the lower the proportion of omega-6 fatty acids, the more optimal the oil is. The ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 should not be more than 1:5 in order to keep the cardiovascular risk low.

The “healthy olive oil”, highly praised by good marketing, comes off surprisingly badly at 1:11: it has an unfavorable ratio. Local linseed oil (1:4) has the highest omega-3 content. If you don’t like the intense taste, you can also use rapeseed oil (1:2), walnut oil (1:6) or soybean oil (1:7), which are much healthier in their fatty acid ratios than the widespread sunflower oil (1:122) and corn oil (1:54) or Peanut Oil (1:32) – Oils that are popular in the hospitality industry because they are cheap and highly heatable.

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