Amino Acids & Fish Oil

To create proteins, your body needs 20 different types of amino acids, which are the basic building blocks of proteins. Cold-water fish a rich source of both quality amino acids and omega-3 fatty acids that are found in fish oils. Both of these nutrients are essential to maintain a strong immune system and body structures.

Amino Acid Types

Among the 20 different types of amino acids that your body needs to make usable proteins, 12 of them are non-essential and 8 of them are essential. Non-essential amino acids are the type that your body can synthesize daily. They are equally important as the essential amino acids, which cannot be produced in your body and must be obtained from food.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 essential fatty acids are a type of healthy, polyunsaturated fat that are found in most fish oils and some plants. They contain more than one double-carbon bond in the fatty acid chain that makes them liquid in room temperature. They come in three forms: alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA, which is found in plant sources; eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA; and docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA. Both EPA and DHA are found naturally in seafood.

Functions

Amino acids play hundreds of different roles in your body. In addition to providing structures for many organs, such as muscles, bones, and circulatory vessels, they are also components of enzymes, antigens, and collagen fibers that maintain healthy skin and nails.

Omega-3 fatty acids provide structure for your cell membranes and controls what goes in and out of the cells. They also regulate the production of hormone-like substances called eicosanoids that are anti-inflammatory agents against chronic diseases. Dietitian Matthew Kadey recommends that you consume more of the EPA and DHA types of omega-3s because your body absorbs them easier than ALAs and they require less energy to process.

Sources

All animal sources contain all the essential amino acids that you need, including beef, poultry, pork, and seafood. Too get the best source of omega-3 fatty acids from fish oils, dietitian Matthew Kadey recommends that you eat cold-water fish because they contain a high storage of fat and high levels of EPAs and DHAs. Three ounces of mackerel contain about 2 g of omega-3s, and salmon has about 1.5 g in the same serving size. Other sources of quality fish oil include herring, sardines, trout, cod, and halibut.

Recommended Daily Intake

An average adult needs about 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, according to dietitian Ellen Coleman. If you are physical active and need to gain muscle mass, then you need to consume between 1.2 to 1.8 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs. --- about 68 kg --- then you will need between 82 to 122 g of protein a day to increase muscle mass.

According to Kadey, you should eat a minimum of 500 mg of omega-3s derived from fish oil a day to minimize the risk of diseases. A 3 oz. serving of fish per day meet the daily requirements.