Amino Acids Play Key Role in Anti-Aging
After water our body is mostly composed of proteins. Indeed, proteins are the main component of cells and are essential to life. Proteins are often called the building blocks of life. Proteins are built from amino acids. Nutritional science is finding that amino acids are key to fighting the aging process.
Amino Acids and Proteins
Proteins are a type of macronutrient, which, along with carbohydrates and lipids, are needed by the body to function normally. Protein generally makes up 12% to 15% of the body's energy needs. Our body is not able to store amino acids like it does for carbohydrates and fats. So we need a daily intake of amino acids through protein in our diets to make new protein. Protein should be consumed evenly across the day and be part of each meal.
As we get older, we start to lose skeletal muscle mass. This natural process is called sarcopenia and it affects everyone. If nothing is done about it, sarcopenia can prevent people from performing everyday activities like going out, and greatly increase the risk of falls or broken bones. This can make it harder for people to lead independent lives. The right exercise and consumption of enough animal-based proteins are needed to prevent and treat the condition. Doctors are looking closely at amino acids as a nutritional strategy. Recent studies have found a clear link between the consumption of amino acids and exercise with an increase in muscle mass and strength.
Protein can be found in:
- Animal sources, such as meat, fish, eggs and dairy products. These contain the full range of essential amino acids
- Grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts, which may lack one or more essential amino acid
- Specific nutritional supplements
It's common that people eat less food with age. Contributing factors can be lack of appetite, changes to smell and taste, living alone, little interest in cooking, or difficultly in eating due to teeth/gum or denture problems. Eating less or eating sub-optimally means that older adults often miss out on getting enough important macro and micronutrients, despite their need for many nutrients being higher.
Protein is a macronutrient of particular concern; several studies have reported that elderly people consume less than the daily recommended amount of protein. Inadequate protein intake is closely linked to loss of muscle strength and functionality.
As we get older, our immune system also weakens and we are more likely to catch colds and other illnesses. Older people often do not get enough protection, even with flu vaccinations, because their body's immune response is too weak. A study was conducted to investigate the effects of the amino acids cystine and theanine on immune response among elderly residents of a nursing home who were given flu shots. The group that did not take cystine and theanine after being vaccinated showed almost no improvement in immune response, but the group that did take cystine and theanine showed a significantly improved immune response. These results indicate that weakened immune response due to aging can be restored by consuming amino acids.
Amino Acids for Anti-Aging
The same amount of protein has less of an effect on stimulating protein synthesis for older adults than it does for younger adults. Older adults have to eat more protein to get the same effects as when they were younger. This is called anabolic resistance.
The trouble is, older adults also have less of an appetite, and often, they produce less hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes. So, even when they eat more protein, they have difficulty breaking it down, unless they supplement with enzymes and HCl.
Supplementing with amino acids stimulates protein synthesis and decreases protein breakdown. The amino acids are readily absorbed, as they require no digestion, making them very convenient for older adults with less of an appetite and a less effective digestive system.
Loss of lean mass, beginning with middle age, is common, but it doesn't have to happen at the rate it does for most people. Strength training, plus a higher-protein diet and/or amino acid supplementation can slow the rate of muscle loss.
Aging also causes a change in muscle fiber type, from fast-twitch to slow-twitch fibers. The fast-twitch fibers help maintain normal blood sugar. Amino acid supplementation has been shown to help maintain more fast-twitch, type II muscle fibers.
Essential amino acid supplementation has been shown to improve the distance older adults could walk before fatigue, or younger athletes could train before wearing out. Studies have shown that amino acids may reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), following exercise.
There are a large number of amino acids, but nine of these are considered as essential amino acids, meaning that our bodies cannot synthesize on their own. These are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.
There are an additional six amino acids which, under certain adverse conditions, such as premature birth or catabolic distress, meaning that the body is breaking down body tissue in an abnormal fashion, cannot be synthesized. These so called non-essential amino acids are arginine, cysteine, glycine, glutamine, proline, and tyrosine.
There is also a third group, called dispensable, or conditional, amino acids because they are synthesized in the human body, consisting of alanine, aspartic acid, asparagine, glutamic acid, and serine.
All of the amino acids are needed to ensure our continued good health, with children over the age of three years needing 10 to 20 percent more than adults.
But the way protein is used in our bodies is a complex operation. When we consume protein, this is broken down in our gastrointestinal tract into the various amino acids. These substances are then transformed into new protein material and amino acids, as needed, by a process known as biosynthesis. But if you do not consume enough protein, or the proper type of protein, this process cannot be effective.
Sometimes, our intake of protein, and amino acids, can be compromised. Pollution due to fossil fuels, hormones used in cattle, fertilizers in farming, and the vast amounts of processing our food undergoes in the modern world can adversely affect the quality and quantity of amino acids found in our diet. Nutritional supplements have proven effective in supplying the correct amount and type of amino acids which our body requires.