Amino Acids in Moringa

Plants are an important source of proteins, but most plants actually supply the units making up the proteins – the amino acids. Proteins are digested by the gastro-intestinal system and then cut into smaller, simpler units (amino acids) that can be absorbed through the walls of the intestines and used by the body. Since proteins and other nitrogen-containing substances are continuously depleted and rebuilt, they must be replaced by a continuous supply of amino acids from the diet.

There are 20 amino acids present in the human body’s structures. Of those, 9 are known to be ESSENTIAL; they have to be supplied by the diet since the human body cannot synthesize them, as it does with the other 11 amino acids. Few foods, like Moringa, are known to contain all 9 essential amino acids. The 9 essential amino acids are: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine. Moringa’s essential amino acids presence and digestibility scores are more than adequate when measured against the standards of World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and United Nations Organization (UNO) for small children, the most at-risk population group when it comes to proteins in food.

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