The Must-Know Facts About Amino Acids - Ask a Nutritionist

Transcript:

Teresa: Hello and welcome to another mini “Ask a Nutritionist” episode of Dishing Up Nutrition. I am Teresa Wagner, a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. If you follow the world of health and nutrition, you might have heard about amino acids, especially in the fitness world. Supplementing amino acids and the peptides they form is common.

And you may be wondering how to get the ideal ratio from food and supplements and for your needs, and if you should be supplementing at all. So today we are diving into amino acids to get your questions answered.

Benefits of amino acids

First, let's talk about why amino acids are in the spotlight and why you'd even care. Amino acids have had the attention of those in the fitness world for many years, but they don't just build muscles for weightlifters. They support your immune system, help repair tissues, produce hormones, and even play a role in mood and sleep.

For athletes, amino acids are crucial for recovery. For older adults, meaning adults over 30, but especially for our 60 plus crowd, amino acids are key in preventing muscle loss. And for everyone, they are vital for keeping our metabolism humming along.

What amino acids are & how they work in the body

Let's get into what these really are and how they work in the body. You may have heard amino acids being called the building blocks of protein, and that's true. Think of proteins in your body like Lego structures, those castles, the airplane, the firehouse. Every tissue in your body contains proteins, those protein structures.

It makes up the structure of everything from your bones, joints, muscles, skin, hair, nails, and all of your organs. Amino acids, on the other hand, are like the individual Lego bricks of those structures. When we eat proteins, say from meat, eggs, dairy products, even plant-based foods like soy and beans, our body breaks down that protein structure into amino acids or those individual Lego bricks.

Then it rebuilds them into the proteins we need, like that completed Lego structure. Another way you can think about this is like sentence structure. Think of amino acids, like individual letters. A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Peptides are the words these amino acid letters build and proteins are the full sentences all put together with those words.

There are 20 amino acids in total. Of those nine are essential, meaning we must get them from food because our bodies can't make them on our own. The other 11 are non-essential, meaning we can produce them within our own amazingly made bodies, but in certain situations like stress or illness, even those amino acids need dietary support. We need to eat them.

Let's look closer at the essential nine. These include histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. Three of these essential amino acids, leucine, isoleucine and valine are known as the branch chain amino acid, or the BCAAs that play a big role in muscle synthesis, muscle repair, and in energy. They're called branch chain because of their chemical structure, which features a side chain with a branch.

You may have heard of supplementing with BCAAs in the fitness world to support energy, muscle growth, and tissue repair for faster recovery. As another example, you have probably heard of the essential amino acid, tryptophan; famous for being in your turkey at Thanksgiving dinner, and it's thought to make you sleepy afterwards.

The thought behind this is that when tryptophan is converted to 5-HTP, which is then converted to serotonin, our feel good neurotransmitter, it makes us feel calm and content and in turn can make us feel sleepy. The reality is it's probably the excessive food intake at Thanksgiving that puts us in the state of drowsiness and not the tryptophan itself.

On the flip side, we have non-essential amino acids like glutamine or glycine. Your body usually makes these, but under times of stress, say after surgery, intense exercise or illness, your needs can spike and dietary sources become critical. That's why sometimes you'll hear them called conditionally essential, meaning under certain conditions you need to eat it in order to fulfill your body's requirements.

How to know if you’re getting the right amounts of all the amino acids (eat complete proteins)

Now you might be wondering, how do I know if I'm getting the right amount of all of these different amino acids? Well, there's good news. Animal-based foods, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy are considered complete proteins because they contain all nine of the essential amino acids in good amounts.

For vegetarian or vegan diets, many plant-based proteins like beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, they have amino acids, though often not all nine in the ideal ratio. That's why for plant-based diets, combining foods like rice and beans can give you a more well-rounded amino acid profile. Soy and quinoa are two examples of plant foods that are complete proteins, which make them especially valuable in plant-based diets.

However, even though they contain all nine essential amino acids, they're in smaller amounts than animal-based foods. The issues we see as dietitians with getting all your protein from plant-based sources is that you would need to eat a very high amount of these plant foods to get what we would consider to be an ideal amount of protein.

This leads to a high consumption of carbohydrates in the case of grains and legumes, or high amounts of calorically dense fats, like in the case of nuts and seeds. And overly high carbohydrate or fat intake can lead to further health consequences like high blood sugar levels or weight gain.

So for example to get 25 grams of protein at a meal from quinoa, you would need to eat three cups of quinoa, which is the equivalent of 666 calories and 120 grams of carbohydrate. That's a blood sugar bomb. Or if you would prefer to get that 25 grams of protein from peanut butter, you would need to eat seven tablespoons of peanut butter for 665 calories or 56 grams of fat.

Now, that's a lot of peanut butter, but if you wanted a bit more variety for the equivalent caloric value, you could have four ounces of lean beef for that 25 grams of complete protein for 180 calories, and then add a couple of cups of veggies of your choice, a half a cup of baked potato, a little bit of butter and sour cream, and maybe some fresh chives.

Now that sounds a whole lot more appealing to me anyway. And besides what a variety of nutrients that meal provides; nutrients your body needs to thrive.

How do you know if you should be supplementing with amino acids or peptides?

Because the benefits of adequate protein are becoming more well known, a question I get from clients is, well, should I be supplementing with amino acids and peptides? My answer is, well, it depends on what your goals are. For most healthy individuals, a balanced diet provides plenty of amino acids if you eat enough protein from meat, fish, dairy, eggs, and of course plant-based protein sources like legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds contribute to the whole number as well.

However, I recommend making the effort to prioritize and weigh the amount of animal protein that you are eating, because I find that, well, especially for women, they aren't eating as much as they think they are. For women, we recommend eating three to four ounces of animal protein with each meal and two ounces at a snack.

So if you're eating three meals and a snack, this looks like 11 to 14 ounces of protein per day, or around 80 to 100 grams. For men, we like to see closer to five to six ounces per meal and a couple of ounces with snacks. So around 17 to 20 ounces of animal protein per day, or around 120 to 140 grams per day.

If you're meeting this amount most days, you don't need to supplement. Those are general guidelines, but needs vary amongst individuals. For example, does a woman who is barely five feet tall have the same requirement as a woman who is almost six feet tall? Of course not.

So if you'd like a more specific range for you, use this equation. Look up your ideal body weight in pounds. I'm stressing pounds, not kilograms. And this should be for your height. What's your ideal body weight in pounds for your height? And no, I do want to stress that this does not need to be your personal goal weight. It's just a starting point for the equation.

So if your ideal body weight is 145 pounds, to find your protein goal range for the day, take 145 and multiply it by 0.55 for the bottom of the range, and then take that 145 by 0.7 for the top of the range. If 145 pounds is the ideal body weight, then the protein goal is 79 to 101 grams of protein per day. The bottom of the range is the amount that has been shown in studies to preserve muscle mass. And the top end of the range is the amount to actually put on muscle mass. So if your goal is to gain muscle, you need to hit or go above the top of that range.

Supplementing with amino acids can be useful in special cases. For example, if you're trying to put on muscle mass for athletes with high training loans for people with low protein intake, like certain restrictive diets, or for people who struggle to meet their daily dietary protein goals or for medical needs like illness recovery, muscle wasting conditions, or after surgery.

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Types of amino acid supplements

Now let's talk about the types of amino acid supplements if you choose to go that route. Like I mentioned earlier, branch chain amino acids include leucine, isoleucine, and valine, and can be used for muscle recovery and for exercise recovery. Branch chain amino acids include leucine, isoleucine, and valine, and can be used for muscle growth and for exercise recovery.

Leucine is the branch chain amino acid that especially helps stimulate muscle building. You can also get a good amount of leucine from eating animal proteins or supplementing with whey protein powder, or even plant-based protein powders with added leucine.

Essential amino acid supplements or EAAs contain all nine essential amino acids. This can stimulate muscle protein synthesis and may be helpful in older adults or those who struggle to get enough protein in general. Again, you could use a good quality whey protein powder, which contains all the essential amino acids in the ideal ratio.

Whey protein is the gold standard of protein powders if you can tolerate dairy, some people have a sensitivity to whey if they are very dairy sensitive, though some people who have a sensitivity to dairy foods can tolerate whey protein powders just fine, so it can take some experimenting. Grass fed whey protein powders are the best, and I would say watch out for added sugars or artificial sweeteners in those protein powders.

Other protein powders can help increase overall amino acid intake, but may not have the ideal ratio of amino acids, especially leucine, which is important for that muscle building piece. So if you are choosing a different kind of protein powder besides whey, you could choose to add branch chain amino acids to your protein shake, to include that extra leucine for muscles and for workout recovery.

Adding one small scoop of the Pure Encapsulations branch chain amino acid supplement we carry on our Nutrikey website is an easy way of getting those important branch chain amino acids if you don't tolerate the whey based protein powders.

Creatine powder: what is it & who might benefit?

This brings me to another supplement that I get asked about a lot: creatine. Creatine is a compound made from three amino acids: glycine, arginine, methionine. It is used as another supplement for supporting muscle growth, increasing athletic performance, and aiding in recovery after workouts. Our body produces creatine on its own.

And animal proteins also naturally provide creatine, but supplementing will give you a much higher dose. This is something you can take first thing in the morning pre or post-workout, or really any time either mixed with water or throw it in your protein shake. Creatine has also been shown to have benefits for the brain, for mood and cognition.

It's been shown to improve processing speed, executive function, and fight mental fatigue. A general recommendation for supplementation is five grams per day. If interested, we carry a creatine powder from Nutridyn on our website as well.

Collagen powder: what is it recommended for?

Another option I want to discuss in regard to amino acids is collagen powder. There is understandably confusion when it comes to collagen versus protein powder. Collagen powder does contain a variety of amino acids, however, it does not count as a complete protein because it does not contain tryptophan, one of the nine essential amino acids. Remember how when you think of a sentence, amino acids are the letters, peptides are the words, and proteins are the sentence?

Collagen powder contains specific peptides used to target specific tissues. In the case of our Key Collagen we carry on our Nutrikey website, these specific peptides, target tendons, joints, bones and skin. I often recommend taking Key Collagen in addition to adequate dietary protein or a protein powder to enhance growth in those specific areas.

There are so many collagen products on the market these days, so you have to look closely at what types and what amounts of peptides they contain. Some are targeted for hair, skin and nails, some for joints, some for bones. Our Key Collagen is an all-in-one supplement that supports the body from head to toe, or should I say, from hair to toenail. So think of collagen as a complimentary supplement, not your main protein source.

Single amino acids: when to use them

In some cases, we also recommend supplementing with single amino acids. If you are a regular Dishing Up Nutrition listener, you have heard us talk about supplementing with L-glutamine for gut health.

Glutamine supports the gut barrier, so it can be helpful in cases of leaky gut and inflammation. About five grams per day can aid in repairing leaky gut. It's also great for wound healing and helps with those pesky sugar cravings.

The amino acid, tryptophan, as I had talked about earlier, is sometimes used for sleep and for mood. When supplementing, we are typically recommending 5-HTP, which is what the amino acid, tryptophan, is converted into in the body.

Tyrosine can help thyroid function. Tyrosine is also our precursor to dopamine, our motivation neurotransmitter.

Lysine can be used to prevent cold sores.

Arginine can help with blood flow and reduce high blood pressure. It can be an option to try if you have a condition called Raynaud’s. This is a condition where certain areas of the body, the fingers, toes, ears, tip of nose, feel numb and cold. They typically change color, usually going from white to maybe a bluish purple and then to red.

So these are some common examples of when someone might supplement with a specific amino acid. I always recommend talking to a dietitian or to a healthcare provider before supplementing, just to make sure it will benefit you and not risk any potential harm.

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In general, who may benefit from supplementing to bridge gaps?

But in general, let's just review who may benefit from supplementing to bridge those gaps. Athletes for enhanced endurance or recovery, those on a restrictive diet, or if meals are spaced out too far apart, older adults to help offset muscle loss, those undergoing surgery to help prepare and heal the body pre and post-op.

Practical takeaways

Now let's wrap up with the practical takeaways. We always say food first. Most people can get all the amino acids they need from the food they eat alone. Plus whole food protein sources bring along natural vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that you won't get from protein powders alone.

Supplements are just that. Supplements and are situational for certain populations who need the extra support. It may even benefit someone to supplement for a period of time, but it doesn't have to be long-term.

Lastly, and most importantly, talk to a health professional first, especially if you have health conditions, take medications or considering high doses. If you found this information to be helpful, be sure to share this episode with a friend or loved one or anyone who could benefit. Thanks for listening and have a great day.