Construction of a free-form amino acid database for vegetables and mushrooms

Free-form amino acids were quantitatively measured in over 30 species of vegetables and mushrooms.Significant amounts of free-form amino acids were found in each species analyzed.Additionally, there appear to be no rules or patterns of free-form amino acid distribution among species.Highly functional free-form amino acids, like γ-aminobutyric acid, are found in significant levels and suggest that amino acid analysis could play an informative role in nutrition.Our analysis should provide valuable data for the establishment of nutritional databases that include free-form amino acids and more accurately represent the entire amino acid profile of foods.