Amino Acid

AMINO ACIDS are the "building Blocks" of the body. Besides building cells and repairing tissue, they form antibodies to combat invading bacteria & viruses; they are part of the enzyme & hormonal system; they build nucleoproteins (RNA & DNA); they carry oxygen throughout the body and participate in muscle activity. When protein is broken down by digestion the result is 22 known amino acids. Eight are essential (cannot be manufactured by the body) the rest are non-essential ( can be manufactured by the body with proper nutrition).

There are three kinds of subset amino acids.  (1) the L series which are organic (2) The D series are basically synthetic.  They are a mirror image of the L series. (3) The DL series are a mixture of the L and D series.

I, personally, only advocate the pure L series.  Of the L series there are 2 categories.  There are the semi and Nonessential amino acids which comprise 80% of all the body protein make up.  They are called non essential amino acids not because they are unimportant as the name may imply.  On the contrary, they are very important to the body.  They are called nonessential because they can be produced and converted by the liver if proper nutrition is taking place.

Essential amino acids comprise the other 20% and you need to eat the foods that contain them because the liver can not convert or manufacture them.