Proteins

Proteins are, toghether with the water, the most important substance in the body. Extremely  important for the growth and development of all body tissues. They are the main source of material for building muscle, blood, skin, hair, nails and internal organs, including the heart and brain.

Proteins are composed of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen.

Proteins are chemical substances that control the life processes of all cells, except one - they can not reproduce themselves. They are built of twenty different amino acids, connected like links in a chain. The sequence and number of these links determines the specific characteristics of each protein.

Amino acids in proteins can be of two kinds:

• essential amino acids that can not be independently renewed in the body, so they have to be taken through food.
• non-essential amino acids that the body can create either from carbohydrates or from the essential amino acids.

Proteins are divided by:

• by complexity: simple and complex
• by type: structural (shape bones, muscles, roots, leaves), hormones (regulate metabolic processes in the body), antibodies or immunoglobulin (defensive proteins), transmission proteins (carry other substances), enzymes (accelerate and catalyze chemical reactions in the body), fibril - a structural proteins in animal tissue, insoluble in water), globular (complex structure, water-soluble, sensitive to changes in temperature)
• by function: structural, regulators, energy source