 Now, there are nine essential amino acids. Essential meaning they have to come through your diet. There's 20 amino acids, 20 or 21, depending on what school you went to. But there's at least 20 amino acids we've been able to identify that are a part of our daily diet. Of those 20, nine of them are considered essential. Essential in the sense that you can only get them from your diet. Your body will not synthesize. Your body will not make them.