Amino Acids
Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Without amino acids we are unable to build the proteins, we need for the body to function.
Amino acids can be broken down onto two rough subcategories – essential and non-essential amino acids. The essential amino acids are the ones that we cannot synthesize ourselves whereas the non-essential we produce in the body. For healthy adult humans the essential amino acids are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine. Babies furthermore need arginine as infants cannot synthesize this. Pets have additional essential amino acids. As an example cats need a sufficient intake of taurine in order to be able to see in the dark.
Amino acid testing
When analyzing amino acids we can divide the samples into three groups:
- Free amino acids: samples where amino acids have been added in their free form.
- Pure amino acids: samples that are at least 80 % pure of a specific amino acid, premix, supplements etc.
- Total amino acids: natural samples where the amino acids are bound in proteins.
We continuously expand our method portfolio by implementing, optimizing and validating according to customer requests. Both optimization of old methods and development of new, is a continuous process to ensure that we meet requirements for testing and documentation on an international level.
Quality of testing
Eurofins give the highest priority to quality. We know that reliable and correct results are the main concerns of customers, when they chose a laboratory for amino acid testing. We have a wide range of accredited methods, a well implemented quality assurance system, do daily quality tests of performance, use reference materials and participate in international proficiency tests. The laboratory is accredited according to ISO17025.
Contact your local Eurofins laboratory to hear more.
