Protein Facts And Function.What is protein?

The best sport diet contains adequate protein to build and repair muscles ,grow hair and fingernails,produce hormones,replace red blood cells and boost your immune system.Any excess protein is burned for energy or stored as glycogen or fat.People who eat moderate portions of protein-rich foods get more protein than they need.Daily protein is important for people who are restricting calories,because is burned for energy when carbohydrate is scarce.The forms of resistance exercise-not excess protein-build muscles.If you consume more protein than you need,you will simply burn more protein as a fuel source.There is no evidence that taking a protein supplement on top of an adequate diet(with about 0.5 g of protein per pound,or 1g per kg) will enhance muscle size or strength.Getting protein from natural foods is better because they contain protein the way nature intended as well-as yet-unknown bioactive compounds that might influence muscle growth.

How much protein. There is no one answer to that question, and research on the topic is still emerging. The best recommendetions are that adults get a minimum of 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight per day РІР‚that’s about 64 grams for a 160 pound adult. In the U.S., adults get an average of 15 percent of their calories from protein; for a person who requires a 2,000-calorie-per-day-diet, that’s about 75 grams of protein. In healthy people, increasing protein intake to 20 to 25 percent of calories can reduce the risk of heart disease, if the extra protein replaces refined carbohydrates, Higher protein diets can also be beneficial for weight loss, in conjunction with a reduced calorie diet, although long-term evidence of their effectiveness is wanting.

For people in good health, consuming 20 to 25 percent of calories from protein won’t harm the kidneys. For people with diabetes or early-stage kidney disease, however, the American Diabetes Association recommends limiting protein intake to 0.8 to 1.0 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight (roughly 10 percent of energy intake), since this may help improve kidney function; in later stage kidney disease, sticking to the 0.8 grams per kilogram minimum is advisable. Too much protein can create problems with health and performance. If you eat too much protein you will not be fueling your muscles with carbohydrate. A diet high in protein can easily be high in fat. This diet may also reduce your risk of certain cancers. Protein breaks down into urea ,a waste product in the urine.

Amino acids.What are amino acids?

Amino acids are organic compounds that combine to form proteins.

When proteins are digested or broken down, amino acids are left.

Amino acids are classified into three groups:

• Essential amino acids
• Nonessential amino acids
• Conditional amino acids

Essential amino acids

• Essential amino acids cannot be made by the body. As a result, they must come from food.
• The nine essential amino acids are: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine.

Nonessential amino acids

• Our bodies produce it, even if we don’t get it from the food we eat.
• They include: alanine, asparagine, aspartic acid, and glutamic acid.

Conditional amino acids

• Conditional amino acids are usually not essential, except in times of illness and stress.
• They include: arginine, cysteine, glutamine, tyrosine, glycine, ornithine, proline, and serine.

You do not need to eat essential and nonessential amino acids at every meal, but getting a balance of them over the whole day is important.

Protein-containing foods are grouped as either complete or incomplete proteins.

Complete proteins contain all nine essential amino acids. Complete proteins are found in animal foods such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, milk, and milk products such as yogurt and cheese. Soybeans are the only plant protein considered to be a complete protein.

Incomplete proteins lack one or more of the essential amino acids. Sources of incomplete protein include beans, peas, nuts, seeds, and grain. A small amount of incomplete protein is also found in vegetables.

Plant proteins can be combined to provide all of the essential amino acids and form a complete protein. Examples of combined, complete plant proteins are rice and beans, wheat cereal, and corn and beans.

Protein and vegetarian

Many people choose not to eat animal protein. Some may think that animal protein is bad for the health, others is hard to digest or harmful to the environment. Whatever their reason is they still need adequate protein to maintain good health. Replacing meat with beans is the way to eat balanced vegetarian diet. You can get adequate protein by including chickpeas, kidney beans, tofu, nuts and other forms of plant protein in your diet.Plant protein is less concentrated than animal protein ,so you need larger portions to get the same amount.