ELI5: What are amino acids?

Imagine you're building with LEGOs.

Amino acids are like the individual LEGO bricks. You can use them to build all sorts of cool things.

In your body, the "cool things" are mostly proteins. Proteins do everything!

• They build your muscles, like the walls of a LEGO house.
• They help digest your food, like little LEGO robots that break things apart.
• They carry oxygen in your blood, like LEGO cars transporting goods.

1. Food! When you eat things like meat, eggs, beans, and nuts, you're eating foods that are made of proteins.
2. Your body breaks down those proteins into individual amino acids. Think of it like taking apart a LEGO castle to get the individual bricks.
3. Your body then uses those amino acids to build the proteins it needs. Like using the individual bricks to build a spaceship instead of a castle.

Think of it like trying to build a spaceship without all the right LEGO pieces – it just won't work! That's why eating a variety of foods is important; it ensures you get all the amino acids you need to build all the proteins your body uses every day.