Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins that perform many important functions in the body. Technically, amino acids are organic compounds containing amino-carboxyl functional groups with a unique side chain for each amino acid.
Based on the body’s ability to synthesize, amino acids can be divided into 2 types – essential amino acids and non-essential amino acids. As the name suggests, essential amino acids cannot be synthesized by the body and must be obtained through food.
Non-essential amino acids, on the other hand, are so called because they can be synthesized by the body. Read on for more differences between the two amino acids.
What is Essential Amino Acids?
Amino acids that cannot be synthesized or synthesized by the body and are needed from food are called essential amino acids. There are 9 essential amino acids which are leucine, isoleucine, histidine, lysine, methionine, threonine, phenylalanine, tryptophan and valine.
What are Amino Acids?
The basic units of proteins are amino acids, and proteins are obtained by polymerization of amino acids. There are 20 macromolecules that make up amino acids. Amino acids are organic compounds with a side chain of carbonyls, an amino group and a hydroxyl group.
All amino acids have the same basic structure but their side chains have different carbonyls. Amino acids differ from each other in polarity, charge, molecular weight and function.
Peptide strands link amino acids to form polypeptide chains, and these are then synthesized into secondary and tertiary structures of proteins.
Proteins differ in chain length, amino acid sequence, characteristics, and function. An infinite number of different combinations of amino acids give rise to a wide variety of proteins with high specificity.
Proteins perform various functions. Collagen is the structural protein that makes up feathers, hair and horns, and is found among the proteins of animal connective tissues.
Examples of storage proteins include albumin in eggs and proteins in plant seeds. Transport proteins such as hemoglobin transport material throughout the body.
Hemoglobin transports oxygen and carbon dioxide from all the cells of the body to both lungs for air exchange. Neuroproteins regulate various body functions. Insulin, for example, keeps blood sugar levels out of control.
Difference Between Essential and Nonessential Amino Acids
| Essential Amino Acids | Nonessential Amino Acids |
| Definition | |
| Essential amino acids are the amino acids which have to be taken in through diet as they “CAN NOT” be produced by the body | Nonessential amino acids need not be taken in through diet as they can be produced by the body |
| Number of Amino Acids | |
| 9 amino acids out of 20 are thought to be essential | 11 of the 20 amino acids are non-essential |
| Sources | |
| As the definition implies, essential amino acids have to be acquired through food – such as soy, quinoa, egg, chicken, meat or vegetable protein | Are produced within the body from other amino acids and other components |
| Role | |
| Serves to build and repair muscle tissues. Also, it forms precursor molecules for the formation of neurotransmitters in the brain | Removal of toxins, integral in the synthesis of RBC and WBC, promotes brain function and many more. |
| Deficiency | |
| Highly probably as these amino acids are acquired through food | Probability of deficiency is rare, but can still occur due to starvation or illness. |
