Non- Essential Amino Acid Requirements and Metabolism in Humans

Protein is a major structural component of all cells in the body. The nutritional importance of protein is because of their amino acids. 9 are called essential and 11 are called non-essential, based on whether we need to get them from diet. This classification is based on studies done using older techniques. Recent studies suggest that these so called non-essential amino acids play important roles in our body's health. For the first time, this proposal defines an experimental design to examine non- essential amino acid/nitrogen requirements and metabolism in humans using the Indicator Amino Acid Oxidation (IAAO) technique. The objective of the current study is to examine the application of IAAO technique to determine the non-essential amino acid/nitrogen requirement in adult humans.