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what are amino acids?

Amino acids are the chemical units or "building blocks,"   that make up protein.  It is  a protein that provides the structure for all living things. Every living organism, from the largest animal to the tinniest microbe, is composed of protein. And in its various forms, protein participates in the vital chemical processes that sustain life.
Amino acids play central roles both as building blocks of proteins and as intermediates in metabolism. The essential amino acids the body can produce is 10 of the 20 amino acids. The others must be supplied in the food. Unlike fat and starch, the human body does not store excess amino acids for later use—the amino acids must be in the food every day.

The 10 amino acids that we can produce are alanine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine and tyrosine.


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