1. Brain and Nutrients
Ever since ancient sea anemones first emerged a half-billion years ago, amino acids have moved in the minds of all Earth's creatures. They allowed animals to emerge from the sea and thoughts to emerge from the brain.

Most neurotransmitters are made from amino acids obtained from the protein in food you consume. Neurotransmitters are the brain chemicals that motivate or sedate, focus or frustrate. Their complex interaction is what shifts your mood and changes your mind. Neurotransmitters wag the tail of tadpoles and wage the tale of humanity.

Proteins and Amino Acids
Amino acids that come from the protein you eat are the building blocks of your brain’s network. Amino acids can excite or calm your brain as well as nourish your brain throughout it’s lifetime. Find out about the challenging journey amino acids take to your brain and the important role amino acids play.

How Amino Acids Reach Your Brain
Imagine if the people in your family could only travel to the next town if they were escorted by a lady in a pink dress, rode in a blue Ford Mini-Van and were allowed to travel on only one road. Sound like a difficult journey? Amino acids face similar obstacles and requirements in their journey to the brain.

The fact is, if amino acids reach your brain at all, it should be considered a success. Not only do brain cells compete with body cells for amino acids (body cells pull amino acids from the bloodstream more easily), amino acids must pass the protective blood-brain barrier. To top it all off, amino acids must be escorted through the blood-brain barrier by a certain molecule on a certain pathway in a certain “vehicle”.

Amino Acids Can Excite or Calm Your Brain
The amino acids tryptophan and tyrosine must both cross the blood-brain barrier in the same pathway. If tryptophan crosses the barrier, it will have a calming effect. If tyrosine wins out, then you will be energized and alert.

A high-carbohydrate meal can increase the brain's tryptophan levels, and hence the serotonin that promotes contentment and normal sleep.

Therefore, a carbohydrate-rich meal may be more appropriate for the evening meal.

On the other hand, one can be energized for hours after a morning meal high in protein, because it raises tyrosine levels in the blood and brain – causing neurons to manufacture norepinephrine and dopamine, two neurotransmitters that promote alertness and activity.

Tyrosine is crucial to brain power and alertness in another way. It's also needed for your body to make active thyroid hormones. Low blood levels of tyrosine are associated with an underactive thyroid gland. (Extreme thyroid deficiency causes severe mental retardation known as cretinism.)

Protein Connects the Developing Brain
Protein's networking role is even more dramatic and direct in the developing brain, when nerve cells are migrating from their birthplace. One particular protein acts as a molecular guide, somewhat like a dog herding a flock of sheep. It directs migrating nerve cells to their correct locations, where they link up with each other as they settle in.

This protein guides the cell bodies themselves, as well as the growth of the long axons that extend from nerve cell bodies toward other nerve cells.

Nourish Your Brain with Amino Acids
Even in the best of times your brain is often malnourished, which is then reflected in your emotions and behavior. Fortunately, your brain can quickly respond to proper nutrition – even from a single meal. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Your body breaks down dietary protein into the amino acids it uses to assemble the 50,000 different proteins it needs to function – including neurotransmitters and chromosomes, hormones and enzymes.

Dietary proteins fall into two groups. Complete proteins contain ample amounts of all eight essential amino acids. Fish and meat, fowl and eggs, cheese and yogurt are complete proteins.

On the other hand, grains and legumes, seeds and nuts, and a variety of other foods are incomplete proteins, because they provide only some of the essential amino acids.

You can, however, combine different incomplete proteins to obtain all necessary amino acids. Such complementary proteins have been known for centuries and are part of traditional diets around the world. For example, rice and beans combine to make a complete protein.

Dietary Sources of Amino Acids
Food is your best source of amino acids. Be cautious about trying to manipulate your intake with individual amino acid supplements. These potent metabolic factors have many functions in the body that we are only beginning to understand. They are not to be taken lightly.

As always, it's a matter of balance. Eat foods that provide the full spectrum of amino acids your brain needs for an appropriate harmony of energizing and calming neurotransmitters. Pay attention to what you eat and how you feel afterward. Learn what works best for you, according to your daily activities and need for rest.

Ensuring adequate neurotransmitter levels is crucial for optimal brain heath and fitness, however, poor nutrition is not the only obstacle. Stress, infection, and drugs tend to diminish neurotransmitter levels, as does impaired digestion and circulation.