The process of healthy protein metabolism and digestion is to purposely break apart the bonds of protein molecules, releasing free form amino acids into the body to be used where and when needed. Normally, when in the natural process of transition from being a part of different proteins, amino acids act as “switches” for important, if not master, chemical pathways, turning them on and turning them off. And then, immediately after use, these free form amino acids are reabsorbed by recombinant genetic structures constantly being rearranged to make the “stuff” of which physical life is made.

This process works fine in our youth, but as we age, the natural ways of building up and breaking down of life’s materials are agitated. The orchestrated balance is disturbed. Although a healthy body is normally breaking down proteins into separate amino acids and then reassembling them into other needed protein structures, eventually this homeostasis is disrupted. The older we become, the more accelerated the process of breaking down cellular protein begins to exceed the constructive process of building up. Biochemical pathways become sluggish and untuned, not responding in harmony. Pathways which are specifically used to release amino acids from their bonds become unexercised and lack youthful rhythm, finally stalling altogether.

Free form amino acids then become more scarce with increasing years. When in short supply, any free form amino acids present within the body’s environment are quickly reattached to other proteins, too quickly to be used by other needy pathways. As we have learned, without the presence of free form amino acids, critical brain “switches” cannot then be thrown and important directions and biochemical messages are never sent to important parts of the body.

The lack of free form amino acids actually retards the healthiness and constructive rebuilding of the body. Without them, superordinate pathways (i.e., master or governing pathways) are rarely initiated. Normal processes are circumvented as the body begins to conserve for just the essential, lower-order, life-preserving pathways. Accordingly, higher order functions, i.e., life-enhancing functions, are not served.

As we become older, normal protein synthesis and metabolism is inhibited by a number of things, including poor diet, erratic patterns of sleep, unresolved stress, lack of exercise, developed food allergies, even environmental pollution. All of these problems can, and usually do, disturb digestive and metabolic processes. When the uncoupling of amino acids is inhibited, then the life-preserving free form amino acid, the fundamental ingredient of health and beauty, will not be found.

These problems become additive, one problem causing a host of others, each feeding on itself in a downward spiraling path of body decay and destruction, resulting in premature aging. In fact, there are a number of specific problems that can and usually do create difficulties, all of which could interfere with the process of separating one amino acid from another in a protein molecule.

For example:

1) A general depletion or poverty of free form amino acids in the internal environment becomes a competitive event which discourages further oxidation (breaking down) of protein structures to take place.

2) Because of increased competition, amino acid based enzymes cannot be synthesized or formed; without their presence the breaking down of protein is further retarded.

3) Molecular sites then become preoccupied with free radicals (bits and pieces of broken molecules) retarding the cyclic reconstructive process from performing efficiently.

4) With such increased competition for molecular building and transfer sites, fewer free form amino acids are able to pass through the semipermeable membrane (the brain-blood barrier) into the brain to act as the crucial “switches” that govern master biochemical pathways, like those that regulate the process of digestion.

5) This impediment causes further allergic reactions to food, further interfering with normal protein digestion, while also further muddling molecular synthesis sites from being used efficiently, exacerbating the delayed release of free form amino acids within the body’s environment.

See how circular and multifaceted the problem becomes? And that’s not all. The results of poor digestion (i.e., the incomplete breakdown of food protein) in turn causes the dangerous formation of partial protein molecules called “free peptides.” These peptides are generally unusable substances which are treated as invaders by our body’s Immune System. These unwanted free peptides are eventually absorbed through the intestinal wall, causing inflammatory responses to specific organs and tissues.

Further, incomplete breakdown of protein also results in toxic putrification within the digestive tract which increasingly interferes with the efficiency of the digestive process. These resulting additively poisonous materials become inhibiting agents to the body which are destructively absorbed through the intestinal walls. In a sense, the body absorbs an invader and its poison, and then has to rid itself of both of them, which it is now hard-pressed to do because of such advanced deterioration.

Then, of course, these problems further compromise the efficiency of the digestive system, as well as inhibiting the normal metabolism and synthesis of cellular protein, making the release, as well as the biological availability, of free form amino acids almost an impossibility. Indeed, their numbers dwindle dramatically and at an alarming rate.

Bioavailability of Amino Acids:

Växa's Nutraceuticals are free form amino acid “based” and as such exhibit a number of desirable biochemical properties. By their chemical nature, all free form amino acids, being quite small molecularly, on average exhibiting molecular weights between 75.0 mol.wt. and 200.0 mol.wt., are completely and immediately soluble in water and all organic liquids, and as such are directly absorbed into the body through the epithelial cells of the lining of the small intestine.

Therefore, no further digestion is necessary of any free form amino acid and they generally enter the bloodstream within 5-10 minutes after ingestion. Free form amino acids act as critically essential transfer agents within the gastrointestinal tract as well, selectively transporting needed peptides, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals into the bloodstream directly from the intestines.

So specialized are amino acids, and those other nutrients contained within Växa Nutraceuticals as cofactors and synergistic agents, that they are “ferried” across the cell walls of the intestine, and they have free and unencumbered access to the bloodstream. Moreover, free form amino acids have the highest priority regarding competition between other possible nutritional entities of neural switching sites within the body.

There are no natural foods which supply amino acids in their “free” or “uncoupled” form. Absolutely none. No other protein source, be it a predigested or partially broken protein source, can offer amino acids in their “free and unbonded form.” If not supplemented, all amino acids must be derived from food sources and broken down through the process of digestion.

Free form amino acids (as contrasted to those that are configured, or in peptide form, or are so-called predigested” proteins) are the most bioavailable form of pure nutrient known, more easily, efficiently, completely and quickly absorbed by all people no matter their previous health status or age. Only when an amino acid is in its “free” and “unbonded” or “uncoupled” form can it perform the remarkable functions that it does through the body’s biochemistry.

Växa’s Source of Free Form Amino Acids:

All free form amino acids used by Växa are pure crystalline, Pharmaceutical Grade and supplied by Ajinomoto, Co., Inc. of Japan - the world’s largest producer of amino acids. Free form amino acids are biologically “farmed” in a number of ways including controlled fermentation, enzymatic reaction, and now, mostly by direct organic synthesis of gene-configured bacteria, some species of which have been further specialized to produce specific amino acids.

All free form amino acids are found in their purified form as a white crystalline powder. Being a crystal, amino acids (by themselves) have a shelf-life of at least 10 years if kept cool and dry. Free form amino acids are generally unpalatable, sour tasting, very pungent, and sharply odoriferous. Although exceptionally powerful in the body, they are not classified as drugs but are considered Nutritional Food Entities/Supplements by the FDA and recently so classified by the United States Congress in the Dietary Supplement Law of November 1994.