Proteins/Amino Acids

(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)

 

Proteins are a type of nutrient essential to the health and balance of the human body. Protein serves many key functions in the body, such as helping the body build tissue like muscles, connective tissue (similar to cartilage) and hemoglobin. Protein substances also make up the organs, glands, nails, hair, and many vital body fluids. Proteins are essential for the growth of bones. From Prescription For Nutritional Healing (1997), we find even more functions of protein in the body. “Proteins help to regulate the body’s water balance and maintain the proper internal pH. They assist in the exchange of nutrients between the intercellular fluids and the tissues, blood, and lymph. Proteins form the structural basis of chromosomes, through which genetic information is passed from parents to offspring. The genetic “code” contained in each cell’s DNA is actually information on how to make that cell’s proteins.” Next to water, protein makes up the greatest portion of our body weight.

All proteins are made of units of amino acids linked together in chemical chains. There are approximately 20 amino acids and nine of those are referred to as “essential” amino acids. This means that we need to receive these essential amino acids from food because our bodies do not produce them on their own. The essential nine aminos are: Valine, Leucine, Isoleucine, Lysine, Tryptophan, Methionine, Cysteine, Phenylalanine, and Histadine. These essential amino acids are extremely necessary for the body. The other amino acids, the “non-essential,” are actually quite essential to the body’s functioning as well. They do not have to be consumed through food, however. These “non-essentials” make up 80 percent of amino acids and are produced in the body through the liver. They are the basic substance of proteins themselves.

From Everywoman’s Guide To Nutrition (1991) by Judith E. Brown, we find that, “It is really the amino acids, not protein per se, that are needed for good health. It’s just that we get the amino acids we need by eating food sources of protein.” The amino acids do more than just combine to form the necessary proteins for the body. Some of them act as neurotransmitters, the chemicals that carry information from one nerve cell to another. Certain amino acids are necessary for the brain to receive and send messages. From Prescription For Nutritional Healing (1997), further roles of amino acids are explained. “Amino acids [also] enable vitamins and minerals to perform their jobs properly. Even if vitamins and minerals are absorbed and assimilated by the body, they cannot be effective unless the necessary amino acids are present… There are amino acids that can be used to provide energy directly to muscle tissue.”

Judith E. Brown in Everywoman’s Guide To Nutrition (1991) states that we need to eat “complete” proteins, which give us all nine essential amino acids in one meal. The Max Planck Institute found that complete proteins were available from pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seeds, and soybeans, buckwheat, peanuts, potatoes, all leafy greens, and most fruits. Blue green algae is another vegan source of a complete protein (http://www.klamathbluegreen.com). Other sources of complete proteins are meat, dairy products, and combinations of vegetables or legumes, such as beans and rice. Some mushrooms contain complete proteins as well.

According to Charles Attwood, M.D., the idea that we need all nine amino acids in one meal has been shown to be incorrect (http://www.vegsource.com). “Modern nutritionists, after observing populations of strict vegetarians who were healthier and lived longer than meat-eaters, now realize that all essential amino acids may be obtained from a variety of vegetables or grains eaten over a one-to-two-day period.” Gabriel Cousens, M.D., confirms this in Conscious Eating (2000), “As physiologists have known all along, humans are able to store protein, so that just as long as there is some semblance of a variety of foods in the diet, there is really no need to worry about protein food-combining in the first place.” (312)
According to Gabriel Cousens, the American Dietetic Association found that pure vegetarians in the United States usually have twice the necessary amount of protein that one needs on a daily basis. The belief that we need very high levels of protein was initiated by a study done in Germany which was mostly financed by the meat and dairy industries. This study found that we need 120 grams of protein per day. The Federal Drug Administration (http://www.fda.gov) recommends the intake of 50 grams of protein per day. In Conscious Eating (2000), Gabriel Cousens states, “Today, modern research from around the world shows that a more accurate protein need is between 20 and 35 grams for men or non-pregnant women.” (312) The need for 20 to 35 grams of protein per day was independently researched by many doctors and researchers throughout the world. In the research that Gabriel Cousens has conducted, he has found that the requirements for protein intake are individual. This is because Cousens has found that some people get the majority of their energy from breaking down carbohydrates, while others receive this energy from protein. Even for those people who mainly receive their energy from protein, they do not need more than 20 to 35 grams of protein, but rather need a high ratio of protein to fat and carbohydrates throughout the day.

Apes, which are considered to be much stronger than humans, live off of a fruitarian diet that consists of 0.2 to 2.2 percent of protein. Mother’s milk averages about the same percentage. If apes and baby humans can live off of these small amounts of protein, how are high levels of protein affecting people? Paavo Airola, as cited in Conscious Eating (2000) by Gabriel Cousens, states that there is a problem with the over consumption of protein, which contributes to many of the most common serious diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, arthritis, schizophrenia, and kidney damage. Furthermore, Gabriel Cousens states in Spiritual Nutrition (2005) that excess protein slows the subtle energy in one’s body and specifically “acts as a sludge” to kundalini energy. (273)

We only need about ten percent our daily diet worth of proteins to survive. The optimum is a high protein vegetarian diet. We also need amino acid s, the building blocks of proteins. Some people who are missing essential amino acid chain s show reduced overall nutrition. It is good to find a rich and pure source of bulk nutrition now. Certain lacking vitamin sources can actually cause changes in bone and organ mass. Adapt a universal herbal program that can be applied to many foods around the house.