Health - Amino Acids

The protein alphabet, sold by the letter

Amino acids are protein's individual letters, and sometimes one letter does a specific job: glycine for the quiet end of the day, glutamine for gut and recovery work, NAC as the body's glutathione feedstock, 5-HTP in the mood-and-sleep corner, and the training crowd's creatine and BCAAs.

Using them well

Single aminos are precision tools — most shine on an emptier stomach, away from the protein meals they'd otherwise compete with, at label doses. They support normal function; 5-HTP in particular should never be stacked on prescription antidepressants without a doctor's blessing, and we say so at the counter every week. If you're unsure whether the job calls for a single amino or just more protein on the plate, that's an honest two-minute WhatsApp conversation — free, since 1996.