16/10/2018
Why do we need protein?
After water, protein is the main component of cells and is essential to life. Protein is used to build and maintain these parts of our body:
Muscles, Collagen, Skin, Hair, Nails, Hormones, Anti bodies and Enzymes.
Protein is a complex structure, made up of smaller building blocks called amino acids linked together. Some of these amino acids are ‘essential,’ meaning they are crucial for life and cannot be produced by the human body - therefore you need to obtain them from your diet.
As our body is not able to store amino acids in the way it can with carbohydrates and fats, we need to make sure we obtain it daily through what we eat, from:
Animal sources, such as meat, fish, eggs and dairy products - these contain the full range of essential amino acids
Nuts, grains, legumes and tofu – individually these don’t contain the full range of amino acids, so a combination of different types should be eaten.