ABSTRACT
Amino acids, peptides, and proteins are the building blocks of life. When one amino acid joins with another, a peptide is formed, and very long peptides begin to build elaborate three-dimensional structures called protein motifs. Amino acids, peptides, and proteins have become increasingly important in the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industry as nutritive supplements, emulsifiers, rheology improvers, and binding materials. Basic amino acids, in general, can be separated from their fermentation solutions by activated carbon adsorption at a pH of 6-8. Activated carbon has increased importance in debittering protein hydrolysates resulting from treatment of a protein under lytic conditions wherein the amino acids that made up the protein are liberated. Hydrolysates are routinely added to foodstuffs and, more recently, to sports beverages to provide solutions of nutritive amino acids. The taste is primarily due to hydrophobic amino acids such as phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan.
