Why
are we sometimes deficient in amino acids?
It is legitimate to ask the question, 'why should we ever be deficient of adequate amino
acids, considering the amounts of protein consumed?'
The answer is not a simple one but requires that we examine a number of factors which can
interact to produce deficiency in the midst of plenty. In many industrialized countries a
form of malnutrition, caused by overeating, exists. More specifically it arises as a
result of eating devitalized, over-refined and adulterated foods, and partly as a result
of a number of conditions which mitigate against adequate digestion of what is eaten.
In order to be utilized by the body the amino acids derived from food have to be in what
is termed their 'free' form. In other words, they need to be 'unlocked' from chains of
protein in which form they exist in our food and are consumed. Thus, despite a lot of
protein being consumed, there may be too little of the very substances of which protein is
made, the individual amino acids.
Eating sufficient protein is not in itself a guarantee that the necessary amino acids will
be supplied. Even though amino acids are the substances of which proteins are made, no
matter how much protein we consume, the biological availability cannot be assured. This is
extremely important to understand. Namely, that protein, be it sourced from food or
cellular body protein, must be completely broken down into its constituent parts before it
is of any use and value. Whatever the reasons for the inadequate digestion of protein, it
is obvious that there can be an actual deficiency in certain amino acids due to one of the
following factors:
• incomplete breakdown of proteins in the
digestive system.
• inherited abnormalities in the
biochemical mechanisms of the body
• a poor diet.
Let us explore some of the major factors behind poor amino acid absorption or protein
synthesis:
• Digestive factors
• Allergic factor
• Diet Choices
• Biochemical
individuality
• Insufficient Support
Nutrients
• Aging
• Disease Weakened
Metabolic Systems
Digestive Factors
One of the reasons for this is the often inadequate quantity or efficiency of the
digestive juices produced in the stomach and pancreas, when pancreas fails to produce
essential protein digesting enzymes . Excessive demands upon any organ in the body can in
time lead to its abilities becoming exhausted.
The pancreas produces the so called proteolytic enzymes, such as trypsin, chymotrypsin
etc, for protein digestion. It also has the major task of producing insulin with which the
body attempts to control sugar levels in the bloodstream. When this particular function
breaks down diabetes occurs. Diabetes is all too common in modern society, and is related
directly to over-consumption of fats and sugars. If proteolytic enzyme production by the
pancreas is inadequate then amino acid breakdown is faulty, and as a result the body will
have a serious lack of the raw materials from which to make more enzymes, and so the cycle
repeats itself and worsens with time. Poor digestion leads to poor amino acid breakdown,
which leads to worse digestion.
Other substances which harm the pancreas, apart from sugar and fats, are alcohol, coffee,
cigarettes and a number of drugs. Apart from aberrant insulin production, other symptoms
which might become apparent when pancreatic function is impaired are recurrent gastritis
and frequent allergic type reactions, related to incompletely digested substances being
absorbed into the bloodstream.
If at the same time protein intake is high, there are even greater demands being made on a
compromised digestive system with the pancreas laboring even harder, in vain, to produce
substances it is unable to produce.
Other digestive imbalances, including the all to common inadequacy of the gastric
secretions of hydrochloic acid or pepsin, can result in similar incomplete digestion of
proteins, and therefore in poor free amino acid presence in the 'pool' of amino acids from
which the body draws the raw materials with which to reconstruct and constantly renew
itself.
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Allergic factor
The whole process of incomplete digestion is key to understanding many allergic problems.
The results of poor digestion (i.e., the incomplete breakdown of food protein) in turn
causes the dangerous formation of partial protein molecules called “free
peptides.” These peptides are generally unusable substances that are treated as
invaders by our body’s Immune System. These unwanted free peptides are eventually
absorbed through the intestinal wall, causing inflammatory responses to specific organs
and tissues.
The body wants amino acids, not whole proteins, and whole proteins are viewed by the
system as an enemy. The presence of protein instead of amino acids may lead to food
allergies, to a shock reaction called anaphylaxis, to other symptoms typical of an
allergy, such as sneezing, breathing difficulties, skin rashes, headaches, nausea, or
even, in severe cases, death. And these problems result from just a very small amount of
the food protein, which doesn't belong there.
Sometimes protein substances containing nitrogen may reach the large intestine. This may
be undigested or partly digested food residues, unabsorbed amino acids, unused protein
enzymes, or the protein of dead bacteria. These protein substances will likely be attacked
by microorganisms (bacteria) that live in the intestinal tract, and be decomposed by the
process called putrefaction. This often results in diarrhea.
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Diet Choices
Amino acids are not stored for any appreciable time in the body. The essential amino acids
must be eaten pretty much at the same time as the others. The synthesizable ones are not
stored, waiting around for one of the missing "essentials" to show up later.
Food proteins lacking one or more of the essential amino acids cannot sustain life. These
foods are known as incomplete proteins, or inadequate proteins. Some examples of food
containing incomplete proteins are gelatin, corn, and most flour.
Diets that are deficient in the non-synthesizable amino acids lead to the break down of
protein structures in the body, such as muscle. Since skeletal muscles contain the
necessary proteins, the body will break down those proteins and take them in order to
provide what is necessary for other protein functions. If it continues, eventually this
will lead to a serious loss of muscle, grave malnutrition symptoms such as those seen in
the Third World, and even death.
The good news is that a diet of mixed animal protein ensures the ingestion of an adequate
mixture of the essential amino acids. Unfortunately, a diet that is exclusively vegetable
usually does not. Vegetarians need to learn exactly how to get all the essential amino
acids by the precise mixing of appropriate vegetables, such as eating corn with certain
kinds of beans.
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Biochemical Individuality
This term refers to our own particular idiosyncratic needs for certain nutrients. Thus one
person may require five to seven times as much calcium or vitamin C as another in order to
remain in good health, while another person may require three or four times as much
vitamin A and/or zinc. We are told that we require certain levels of nutrient intake to
maintain health. These figures (RDAs, for recommended daily allowances) relate to averages
and, thus far, in extensive testing, very few people have been found who fit the average
for ALL nutrients.
We all have unique biochemical requirements, which relate both to acquired and to
inherited factors.
This means that for each of us, the quantity of each nutrient in our diet is different.
Indeed, from the range of almost 50 substances which should be present in our diet
(vitamins, minerals, trace elements, amino acids, essential fatty acids etc.) and which
are essential for life, there are requirements which are different for each of us. And so
we each need different amounts of amino acids, just as we need different amounts of
vitamins, mineral, essential fatty acids or trace elements.
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Insufficient Support Nutrients
Amino acids do not work in isolation, but are dependent upon vitamins and minerals in
order to form body tissues such as bone and muscle, hormones and enzymes. For example, the
amino acid tyrosine needs to combine with iodine for the thyroid hormone thyroxin to be
created: thyroxin cannot be manufactured without both these substances.
In-take of nutritional supplements such as vitamins and minerals must be accompanied by
amino acids in order to be a simulated and absorbed by the body. Even though vitamins and
minerals may be absorbed by the body they lose their effectiveness in the absence of amino
acids. Likewise, without adequate support nutrition, many of the amino acid pathways
become blocked.
In good health, the body is constantly breaking down many of its own constituent cells for
recycling, as well as ingested protein from food. Both of these tasks require the presence
of specific enzymes in order to uncouple the amino acids from the chains into which they
are linked as proteins. If a particular enzyme is deficient, then this uncoupling task is
to properly accomplished and free amino acid deficiency will occur, causing in turn
further enzyme deficiency, and even poorer subsequent protein breakdown.
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Aging
As we age, the natural ways of building up and breaking down of life’s materials are
agitated. The orchestrated balance is disturbed. Although a healthy body is normally
breaking down proteins into separate amino acids and then reassembling them into other
needed protein structures, eventually this homeostasis is disrupted. The older we become,
the more accelerated the process of breaking down cellular protein begins to exceed the
constructive process of building up. Biochemical pathways become sluggish and un-tuned,
not responding in harmony. Pathways which are specifically used to release amino acids
from their bonds become unexercised and lack youthful rhythm, finally stalling altogether.
Free form amino acids then become more scarce with increasing years. When in short supply,
any free form amino acids present within the body’s environment are quickly
reattached to other proteins, too quickly to be used by other needy pathways.
The lack of free form amino acids actually retards the healthiness and constructive
rebuilding of the body. Without them, normal processes are circumvented as the body begins
to conserve for just the essential, lower-order, life-preserving pathways. Accordingly,
higher order functions, i.e., life-enhancing functions, are not served.
As we become older, normal protein synthesis and metabolism is inhibited by a number of
things, including poor diet, erratic patterns of sleep, unresolved stress, lack of
exercise, developed food allergies, even environmental pollution. All of these problems
can, and usually do, disturb digestive and metabolic processes. When the uncoupling of
amino acids is inhibited, then the life-preserving free form amino acid, the fundamental
ingredient of health and beauty, will not be found.
These problems become additive, one problem causing a host of others, each feeding on
itself in a downward spiraling path of body decay and destruction, resulting in premature
aging or disease.
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Disease Weakened Metabolic Systems
The study of amino acids is particularly relevant to all disease, because the body
normally uses amino acids to promote health and fight disease. When we are suffering from
a moderate to severe chronic illness, we lose the ability to manufacture enough
non-essential amino acids, and thus require supplementation. Problems with digestion will
also necessitate supplementation of "non-essential" amino acids. Most people
have been told that if you eat a balanced diet, you'll get all the amino acids you need.
That simply is not true if you are significantly out of balance. For example, if your
amino acid testing reveals a significantly low Tryptophan, you will have to eat several
turkeys a day... or gallons of milk to get enough Tryptophan from a natural source.
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