Lucas Beaumont
Proteins are very important biological components necessary for proper functioning of living system. They are building blocks of life and they have major involvement in many biological functions like building of red blood cells, resisting infections, proper growth, repairing of body tissues and regulatation of hormones and enzymes.
All these functions are described in detail as follows:
Cellular Regeneration and Repair:
Proteins are key elements of living cell, bones, muscles, ligaments, organs and tendons. Proteins help in the formation and structuring of the red blood cells in our body. Hormones, antibodies, enzymes, blood transport proteins and blood clotting factors are all different type of proteins only. A child needs to consume at least one-third of proteins in his diet for the effective growth and development of body.
Maintenance and regulation of tissues:
Another important function of protein is the maintenance and regulation of tissues in our body. The quantity of protein a person would require to construct and repair tissues will depend upon his phase of growth and life cycle of body cells. For instance; the intestinal area is repaired every couple of days, whereas, the life of blood cells is 60 to 120 days.
Hormone and enzyme production:
Hormonal proteins are active messengers of body. They can be seen as the softwares for hardware of body. Examples include- oxytocin, insulin, somatotropin, Progestosterone and testosterone etc. Insulin controls blood-sugar concentration which in turn regulates metabolism. It is made up of forty eight amino acids. Somatotropin is popular as a growth hormone. It participates in body growth. Progestosterone and testosterone are female and male hormones. Hormones get secreted in bloodstream through endocrine glands say, adrenal glands, pancreas, thyroid gland, ductless gland. Enzymes are the biological catalysts. They catalyze biochemical reactions taking place in a living system. All enzymes are proteins but all proteins are not enzymes. The examples of enzymes includes; lactase, pepsin, trypsin etc.
Fluid balance:
The maintenance of fluid balance between the body cells and extracellular matrix is very crucial and this is done with the help of blood protein molecules- globulins and albumins. Deficiency of blood protein can cause disruption of balance between body fluids, which results into tissue swelling and edema as there is not enough force to pull fluid back into the blood from tissues. The situation of edema is critical and can result into many problems.
Energy stipulation:
Proteins are also the basis of energy for the living system. But, they are only secondary energy resources carbohydrates and fats. But proteins participate in energy production when body suffers from some immunogenic attack. Moreover, they are essential energy resources for functioning of cells. Due to this reason unit of protein production i.e. ribosomes are also called as power houses of cells.
