hormones

I am often asked about the importance of protein and also who benefits most from it. The answer is everyone, and here I give the reasons why.

• Menopausal Women. Most are protein deficient and a lot of the symptoms of fatigue, altered mood, poor sleep, dull hair, fragile finger nails, and bone loss may be the result. Amino acids are essential to optimize their body proteins. This includes hormones, neurotransmitters, hair, nails and bone.

• Athletes. During exercise and training the structural proteins in the body are damaged. This causes the soreness one feels after hard workouts. To repair, the body needs essential amino acids in abundance. Most people do not get enough in their diets to maximize this and so repair occurs slowly or not at all, and lack of training effect and injury can result. A lowering of immune proteins also can occur and result in illness.

• Vegetarians and vegans. In my experience all vegetarians are protein deficient. While eating a vegetarian diet has many health benefits, it lacks optimal amounts of essential amino acids. This causes poorer body performance and health.

• For anyone wanting to lose weight. To lose weight one must take in less calories than one burns. Proteins have 4 calories per gram and so to restrict calories one often decreases ones protein intake below what is required to keep the body healthy. This leads to insufficient amounts of protein being taken in.

• For males and females who have low hormone levels. Many of the essential body hormones are made of protein. Growth Hormone, thyroid hormone, insulin and others. Sometimes when the body is not getting enough protein, it will not be able to make the levels of hormones that one really should have. This leads to premature aging, fatigue, weight gain, and other problems.

• For people who get sick easily or lowered immune status. Much of the immune system depends on protein. The immune cells manufacture proteins that are the protective forces in the body to ward of infections and protect us. If one is not getting enough protein the immune proteins may be at lower levels.

• For people with fatigue. Energy production is protein dependent. The parts of the cell that manufacture energy out of food are made of protein and the enzymes that actually create the energy particle (ATP) are made of protein. So getting enough essential amino acids has a lot to do with being energetic.

For people who are detoxing. All of the detox pathways in the body are dependent on essential amino acids. Since most people are protein deficient (essential amino acid deficient) they will detox slower or with more difficulty.

For pregnant women the protein needs are much higher. Many do not eat enough essential amino acids to protect their body from breakdown and build a baby.

• Children. Growing bodies need essential amino acids. Many children do not eat enough quality protein to meet their body requirements.

For people who are post op the protein needs are much higher so that the body can heel. For many it takes weeks to get back into positive nitrogen balance after surgery. For anyone with osteoporosis or bone loss. Bones are made of a protein structure (collagen) with the minerals on top of that. If the protein is not laid down or preserved, the mineral is lost and the bone density decreases.

For many with Liver or Kidney disease they must be on a protein restricted diets because their bodies can't eliminate the nitrogen waste from proteins. This leads to body breakdown, immune suppression, and premature death.

Seniors are almost always have protein malnutrition. They often have low stomach acid, and so have impaired protein digestion, poor teeth which makes it difficult to chew meats, and tend to eat less quality protein than required. This leads to weak muscles, easier falls, soft bones with increased risk of fracture, low neurotransmitter levels than can cause depression, poor memory and poor sleep.

In summary, the body structures are made of protein. In children, adults and seniors the daily requirement of amino acids must be met or one will not feel and perform their best. At BodyHealth we provide a product called Master Amino Acid Pattern (MAP)™, a product used by the body to make protein many times better than any other food or protein supplement. For more information go to http://www.bodyhealth.com/html/biobuilde/index.asp.

Dr. David Minkoff founded BodyHealth in March of 2000 to fulfill the need for a company that could assist doctors by providing them with the best supplementation possible for their patients. His mission is to educate doctors and the public with the correct know-how and products to improve the body's condition, and to provide them with the products needed to do that.

Dr. Minkoff's newsletter "The BodyHealth Fitness Newsletter" gives you the data you need to keep yourself informed on what is going on in the quagmire of health information, and move you through it with practical solutions to preserve and enhance your health. For more information about Dr. Minkoff got to http://www.drminkoff.com/.

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