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GMJ News > GMJ Briefs > Key Finding: The 20 amino acids: life’s molecular alphabet explained

Key Finding: The 20 amino acids: life’s molecular alphabet explained

GMJ
Last updated: 14/08/2026 23:29
By
Prof. Giorgi Pkhakadze
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0 Min Read
Diagram showing the 20 amino acids classified by chemical structure: aliphatic, aromatic, acidic, basic, hydroxyl-containing, sulphur-containing, and amidic groups.
The human body uses 20 standard amino acids as the building blocks for all proteins. Nine are essential—they cannot be made by the body and must come from food—while eleven can be synthesised internally. Understanding how these amino acids differ in structure and function is central to clinical nutrition and disease prevention. — "Replicating Nanomachines" by jurvetson is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/. (CC BY 2.0)
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1 min read|38 words

9 of 20 amino acids are essential nutrients that your body cannot synthesise—they must come from dietary sources. Learn why tryptophan, leucine, and lysine are critical for brain, muscle, and immune health.

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ByProf. Giorgi Pkhakadze
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Prof. Giorgi Pkhakadze, MD, MPH, PhD, is Editor-in-Chief of the Georgian Medical Journal and Chair of the Public Health Institute of Georgia (PHIG). He is Professor and Head of the Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences at David Tvildiani Medical University, and Secretary/Treasurer of the UEMS Section of Public Health. ORCID: 0000-0001-7609-4515.

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