e are going to introduce these nutrients, which reality is quite different from uses, functions and characteristics people ascribes to them. We are going to talk about false beliefs that surround with a mysterious halo to these organic principles.

Hablaremos de las falsas creencias que rodean de un halo de misterio a las proteínas.

Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen are amongst others, the elements that you reader and me are formed. The three first can be obtained from the water, the hydrates and the fats, but you must know that proteins are the only sources of nitrogen for our organism. Try to imagine easily the 22 letters from our alphabet and the different combinations among them. How many words can we get? There are known 20 amino acids, and the combination among them produces different proteins. How many? Infinity. From muscular tissue to cholesterol, from antibodies to a finger nail, from tendons to insulin that regulates our blood sugar, from enzymes that assimilates the proteins theirselves to the wax from your ears. The cell, red globule that carries the oxygen to the rest of the cells (the others) needs a protein form, the haemoglobin, to undertake it.

There is no storage form in our body to this nutrient, as in the case of fat in the adipose tissue. We must also add that exist essential amino acids that must be taken from external sources, as the glucose.
Getting to the point, the ingest of proteins in a diet must be insured and amino acids have the possible functions in our organism: to create new proteins, or become fats, or use them as a energy combustible. What it depends of? It depends of our body requirements.

Let’s see, if our proteins consumption is not enough, the regeneration process and new tissues formation will be affected. If our nutrition is poor in carbohydrates and low in calories, it is going to be specially used as an energy source the proteins that shape our muscles. If we subject our organism to a consumption that exceeds calorific diary necessities, abundant in proteins, these ones will become in an irremediable way in fat, and a portion of these proteins will be excreted just like that, with the following kidneys and livers hyper functionality, which are subjected to a dizzy working rate.

With this, we can deduce that exist optimum quantities of protein consumption that hinder the destruction of tissues (catabolism), increase the building process (anabolism) and in a quantity which involve no risk for our health, nor it surplus turn into fat.

So, if you want an individual reponse, we must analyze each case, but anyway we can offer some guidance:

• Consumption under 0,8 grams per kilo of corporal weight leads to protein catabolism. We are talking about 56 grams of proteins for a person of 70 kilos, I mean, 120 grams of chicken and 120 grams of fish per day.
• Consumption of around 1,2-1,6 grams per kilo of corporal weight allows an standardize balance of tissues refill and a healthy physiological status.
• People with an important calorific output due to physical activity or with an objective of muscular mass profit.
• Consumption over 2,2 grams per kilo of weight hasn’t shown any efficiency, because cost exceeds the possible benefits.

The next question is: Which are the optimum nutritious options? Once again the answer is simple:

• Food from animal origin low in fat (birds and fish – chicken and white fish)-
• Skimmed dairies.
• Mixed cereals and legumes (rice and chickpeas).

We must clarify that the protein from animal origin has a better biological value than the vegetal protein (biological value is the profile of useful amino acids and retained nitrogen of a protein by the organism) and under the proteins from animal origin, as eggs as red flesh have disagreed their content in fats and the fact than proteins from the fish has less biological value than the ones from the land animal. It is obvious that proteins from birds, among them, the birds proteins, build as the winners.

I hope I have shown you a light in that exiting topic, directly related with health and physical activity concept.