I wrote a special two-part article for San Diego Magazine/Hatch, starting with a list of 25 VIPs — very important proteins that San Diego scientists are currently studying.
Then I delved into “everything you never knew you wanted to know about proteins.” Here’s an except from the in-depth article, “Protein: It’s Not Just for Dinner,”
“When people hear the word protein, they often think of chicken or tofu or a protein shake to drink after a workout. Proteins, along with sugars, fats, and carbs, are indeed part of nutrition, but they also carry out many of the functions of life. We eat protein as part of our daily diet, because we cannibalize dietary protein to make our bodies own proteins.
There are many types of proteins—from the enzymes that digest the food in our stomachs, to the structural proteins that allow for cell movement and intracellular transport, to the variety of signals and receptors that guide a cell’s actions and responses to the environment.”