Essential Amino Acids

Amino acids are organic compounds which contain both an amino group and a carboxyl group. According to Tillery, et al., the human body can synthesize all of the amino acids necessary to build proteins except for the ten called the "essential amino acids", indicated by asterisks in the amino acid illustrations. An adequate diet must contain these essential amino acids. Typically, they are supplied by meat and dairy products, but if those are not consumed, some care must be applied to ensuring an adequate supply. They can be supplied by a combination of cereal grains (wheat, corn, rice, etc.) and legumes (beans,peanuts, etc.). Tillery points out that a number of popular ethnic foods involve such a combination, so that in a single dish, one might hope to get the ten essential amino acids. Mexican corn and beans, Japanese rice and soybeans, and Cajun red beans and rice are examples of such fortuitous combinations.

氨基酸是含有氨基和羧基的有机化合物。根据Tillery等人的说法，人体可以合成构建蛋白质所需的全部氨基酸，除了被称为“必需氨基酸”的十种，这些在氨基酸的示意图中用星号标出。一个充足的饮食必须包含这些必需氨基酸。通常，它们通过肉类和乳制品提供，但如果这些食物没有被摄入，就必须注意确保足够的供应。它们也可以通过谷物（如小麦、玉米、大米等）和豆类（如豆子、花生等）的组合来提供。Tillery指出，许多流行的民族食物都包含这样的组合，因此在一道菜中，人们或许可以期望获得十种必需氨基酸。墨西哥的玉米和豆类、日本的米饭和大豆、路易斯安那州的红豆和米饭都是这样的幸运组合的例子。

The University of Arizona's Biology Project gives the following summary:"The 10 amino acids that we can produce are alanine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine and tyrosine. Tyrosine is produced from phenylalanine, so if the diet is deficient in phenylalanine, tyrosine will be required as well. The essential amino acids (that we cannot produce internally) are arginine (required for the young, but not for adults), histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. These amino acids are required in the diet. Plants, of course, must be able to make all the amino acids. Humans, on the other hand, do not have all the the enzymes required for the biosynthesis of all of the amino acids."

亚利桑那大学的生物学项目提供了以下总结："我们能够合成的10种氨基酸是丙氨酸、天冬酰胺、天冬酸、半胱氨酸、谷氨酸、谷氨酰胺、甘氨酸、脯氨酸、丝氨酸和酪氨酸。酪氨酸是由苯丙氨酸转化而来的，因此如果饮食中缺乏苯丙氨酸，酪氨酸也会被需要。必需氨基酸（我们无法体内合成的）包括精氨酸（对儿童是必需的，但对成年人不是）、组氨酸、异亮氨酸、亮氨酸、赖氨酸、甲硫氨酸、苯丙氨酸、色氨酸和缬氨酸。这些氨基酸必须通过饮食摄取。植物当然能够合成所有氨基酸，而人类则缺乏合成所有氨基酸所需的全部酶。"

The failure to obtain enough of even 1 of the 10 essential amino acids has serious health implications and can result in degradation of the body's proteins. Muscle and other protein structures may be dismantled to obtain the one amino acid that is needed. "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."(Biology Project)

未能获得足够的10种必需氨基酸中的一种就会对健康产生严重影响，可能导致身体蛋白质的分解。肌肉和其他蛋白质结构可能会被分解以获取所需的单一氨基酸。“与脂肪和淀粉不同，人体不会储存多余的氨基酸以备后用——每天的食物中都必须含有氨基酸。”(生物学项目)