What are Amino Acids?

Amino Acids, strictly speaking, are large molecules that contain an amine group. The four basic elements in an amino acid are carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen. Simply speaking, amino acids are those molecules which ultimately make up a protein. Different kinds of amino acids constitute different kinds of proteins; that is why amino acids are also called as building blocks of the body, owing to the fact that proteins are one of the most important things a human body needs, after water. Since every protein is chemically composed of a linear chain of amino acids, amino acids become all the more crucial to life, and are considered significant in nutrition and metabolism. Some of the names of common amino acids are glycine, phenylaline, serine, glutamine, aspartic acid, etc. There are 20 amino acids, related to the human body. Out of these, 10 are produced by the human body itself, and the rest need to be consumed. The other 10 amino acids which a human must obtain are called Essential Amino Acids, and some of the examples here are tryptophan, lysine, histidine, etc. Three-fourths of the human body is made of amino acids. Protein degradation is a consequence when any one of the essential acids is not obtained in the diet.