Vitamins, Minerals, and More: An Informatic Series, #2: Proteins

Proteins

What are they and where can you find them?

Chemically, proteins are made out of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Their basic units are amino acids, which contain the nitrogen part of proteins.

Proteins don't come into your body as proteins. Instead, they supply amino acids to you when enzymes break them down. They are broken down via a process called hydrolysis. 

Fun fact: the body prefers whole proteins rather than partial ones!

While plants are able to synthesize many chemicals needed for life, which later on produce carbohydrates, animals cannot (Haurowitz, Koshland). Therefore, making animals need to extract protein from external sources. Some of these individuals are us, human beings. 

Some common protein sources are:

• Beans
• Legumes
• Nuts (almonds, cashews, etc)
• Meats (fish, beef, chicken)

Proteins are essential to muscle building as well, therefore eat double the necessary amount for a daily unit consumption in order to build 

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Sources

Whitney, Ellie, and Sharon R. Rolfes. Understanding Nutrition. Cengage, 2020.

Haurowitz, Felix, and Daniel Koshland. "Protein I Definition, Structure, & Classification." Britannica, 1 Jul. 2023, www.britannica.com/science/protein. Accessed 30 Jul. 2023.