Snapshot 2: About Proteins.

 

Snapshot 2:- About Proteins

Perhaps the ultimate building Block, protein provides all the functional and structural components of the body: skin, bone, muscle, blood and all the organs. It consists of one or more long chains of amino acids linked  by peptide bonds. 

Essential in the diet, protein provides the amino acids that are reassembled to build new body tissue during growth, used  to maintain existing protein structures and to make smaller molecules like hormones and neurotransmitters.

 It can also serve as a fuel  for the body – with the same energy density as carbohydrates (4 kal/17 kJ per gram). 

Protein is present in all foods – animal and plant – but rich sources include meats, dairy, fish, eggs, grains, legumes and nuts. 

The key is to eat a variety of these foods, to make sure that we absorb the right balance of the nine essential and the non-essential amino acids. This can be done with plant-based diets, as evident by the normal growth patterns of children in affluent vegan communities.

 The minimum dietary requirement of protein is for sufficient amino-acid nitrogen and indispensable amino acids to meet the demand for any growth, pregnancy or lactation and for body maintenance, balancing all nitrogen losses mainly through urea excretion. The minimum demand is usually small, and is easily met in most nutritionally complete diets.