Protein Vs. Amino Acids

[Vashgun]

I've done my fair share of research on all things healthy and certainly my fair share of experimenting with many things unhealthy.

I know that amino acids are the building blocks of protein, but protein gets bandied about so much in health circles I often find myself confused as to the difference. This topic idea was sparked by a poster lauding the virtues of whey powder over what he termed, a "fad" protein in hemp seeds.

From what I read, hemp seeds have all of the amino acids in virually perfect ratio's for human health and is extremely absorb-able. What I would like to ask the smart people at D&S is what is the difference, in terms of supplementation and dieting, between protein as you would find in whey and amino acids?

What are branched amino acids? How much of whey, or other types of popular proteins, are foreign proteins? and what are foreign proteins? When choosing a protein supplementation, should I look for amino acids or the amount, ie grams, of protein?

To me, someone not well versed in protein or health supplementation outside of herbs, it would seem obvious to go for natural sources of amino acids so that the body could make what proteins it needed. Is this naive or sound philosophy?

[bcplifter2]

Originally Posted by Vashgun

I've done my fair share of research on all things healthy and certainly my fair share of experimenting with many things unhealthy.

I know that amino acids are the building blocks of protein, but protein gets bandied about so much in health circles I often find myself confused as to the difference. This topic idea was sparked by a poster lauding the virtues of whey powder over what he termed, a "fad" protein in hemp seeds.

From what I read, hemp seeds have all of the amino acids in virually perfect ratio's for human health and is extremely absorb-able. What I would like to ask the smart people at D&S is what is the difference, in terms of supplementation and dieting, between protein as you would find in whey and amino acids?

What are branched amino acids? How much of whey, or other types of popular proteins, are foreign proteins? and what are foreign proteins? When choosing a protein supplementation, should I look for amino acids or the amount, ie grams, of protein?

To me, someone not well versed in protein or health supplementation outside of herbs, it would seem obvious to go for natural sources of amino acids so that the body could make what proteins it needed. Is this naive or sound philosophy?

theres alot of questions here

From what I read, hemp seeds have all of the amino acids in virually perfect ratio's for human health and is extremely absorb-able.

define perfect ratios ? hemp is complete, but i wouldnt really call it perfect .


between protein as you would find in whey and amino acids?

amino acids are simply single amino acids. whey is a combination of several , high in bcaas .

What are branched amino acids?

leucine, isoleucine and valine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branched-chain_amino_acid

How much of whey, or other types of popular proteins, are foreign proteins? and what are foreign proteins

i dont know what you mean

When choosing a protein supplementation, should I look for amino acids or the amount, ie grams, of protein?

most important imo are Essential aminos, followed by bcass (which are essential)
anyways)

just pick a complete protein high in bcaas

To me, someone not well versed in protein or health supplementation outside of herbs, it would seem obvious to go for natural sources of amino acids so that the body could make what proteins it needed. Is this naive or sound philosophy?

define natural
whey is natural, you know that right?
cows are natural too, and delicious
in fact, ive never seen a synthetic protein supplement in my life i dont think
maybe individual aminos are, ive never really looked into it
the body will make w/e protein you need, as long as it has ample EAA;S

[Vashgun]

Originally Posted by bcplifter2

theres alot of questions here


define perfect ratios ? hemp is complete, but i wouldnt really call it perfect .


between protein as you would find in whey and amino acids?

amino acids are simply single amino acids. whey is a combination of several , high in bcaas .

Perfect ratio is what I read, i dont even know what that is supposed to mean.

So protein from whey is strictly amino acids?

How much of whey, or other types of popular proteins, are foreign proteins? and what are foreign proteins

i dont know what you mean

http://www.evfit.com/alienprotein.htm

When choosing a protein supplementation, should I look for amino acids or the amount, ie grams, of protein?

most important imo are Essential aminos, followed by bcass (which are essential)
anyways)

just pick a complete protein high in bcaas

So is there no difference in quality in sources of amino acids?

To me, someone not well versed in protein or health supplementation outside of herbs, it would seem obvious to go for natural sources of amino acids so that the body could make what proteins it needed. Is this naive or sound philosophy?

define natural
whey is natural, you know that right?
cows are natural too, and delicious
in fact, ive never seen a synthetic protein supplement in my life i dont think
maybe individual aminos are, ive never really looked into it
the body will make w/e protein you need, as long as it has ample EAA;S

Yes, i understand the definition of natural, but the assumption I was under was that hemp seeds contained amino acids, as seperate from formed proteins such as would be found in "protein" supplements. I imagined that whey was like full proteins where the body would break down into amino acids, not strictly free form amino acids. So my impression that protein was formed amino acids was wrong?

what is an EAA;S?

[Nozza]

Unless you're hoping to benefit from a specific effect from an amino acid then the obvious answer is just to eat whole protein in the form of food.

One reason some people take BCAs around training is that they hope to benefit from their anti-catabolic effects whilst not getting as many calories as they would if they just ate food. E.g. those intermittent fasting people looking to get over their worries that their weight training isn't optimal when they're fasted.

In general diet terms I cannot think of a good reason to focus on amino acids rather than foods which contain protein.

No you're entirely correct in thinking that protein is made of amino acids and that the body breaks down dietary protein into amino acids. The body can make some amino acids from compounds in the body but not all. It is also possible to make amino acids that are not in foods and not made by the body.

EAAs are Essential Amino Acids and they are the AAs that the body needs but cannot manufacture and so must be obtained from food.

[Vashgun]

Originally Posted by Nozza

Unless you're hoping to benefit from a specific effect from an amino acid then the obvious answer is just to eat whole protein in the form of food.

One reason some people take BCAs around training is that they hope to benefit from their anti-catabolic effects whilst not getting as many calories as they would if they just ate food. E.g. those intermittent fasting people looking to get over their worries that their weight training isn't optimal when they're fasted.

In general diet terms I cannot think of a good reason to focus on amino acids rather than foods which contain protein.

No you're entirely correct in thinking that protein is made of amino acids and that the body breaks down dietary protein into amino acids. The body can make some amino acids from compounds in the body but not all. It is also possible to make amino acids that are not in foods and not made by the body.

EAAs are Essential Amino Acids and they are the AAs that the body needs but cannot manufacture and so must be obtained from food.

From what i understand there are a vast amount of proteins, which are made up of different types of amino acids. So it would seem that not all "protein" in supplements are created equal. Or rather some proteins would have higher concentrations of the amino acids a bodybuilder is trying to get.

So, it would seem that amount is relative/proportional to quality. I mean, what type of proteins are even in whey? I have this idea of a protein in vivo, and if i were to eat such a protein it would be like the lottery getting the amino acids i am looking for as a supplement. So protein as a supplement cannot be the same thing as a protein in vivo, correct?

[CeleresVerraden]

more often than not there's a list of the various AAs and their amounts on the side of the whey container.

but most protein supplements are derived from food, so you could just look up the food and get the same thing.

[Nozza]

Originally Posted by Vashgun

From what i understand there are a vast amount of proteins, which are made up of different types of amino acids. So it would seem that not all "protein" in supplements are created equal. Or rather some proteins would have higher concentrations of the amino acids a bodybuilder is trying to get.

So, it would seem that amount is relative/proportional to quality. I mean, what type of proteins are even in whey? I have this idea of a protein in vivo, and if i were to eat such a protein it would be like the lottery getting the amino acids i am looking for as a supplement. So protein as a supplement cannot be the same thing as a protein in vivo, correct?

Yes different proteins have different amino acid profiles. Most of the common animal protein sources like meat, milk, eggs, whey and so on are complete proteins. Some vegetable sources are not and so you may need to make sure you eat a mix of sources to ensure you're getting all you need.

Re: your last Q, I think that depends on the supplement. Whey is just the non-curd portion of milk left over from cheese-making. It's a complete protein and has all the amino acids you need AFAIK. It's also digestible and available to the body. So that's not akin to the lottery. I think the same can be said for egg protein too. Some of the vegetable ones might not be quite so good. Certainly I don't think one needs to worry too much about it.

Certainly the common bodybuilding choices - whey, casein and egg protein are good sources of concentrated protein that contain the amino acids you need

[N3ver3nder]

Originally Posted by Vashgun

http://www.evfit.com/alienprotein.htm

If you're going to cite things, I suggest you find more scientifically sound cites.