Optical whispering gallery mode biosensors are able to detect single molecules through effects of their polarizability. We address the factors that affect the polarizability of amino acids, which are the building blocks of life, via electronic structure theory. Amino acids are detected in aqueous environments, where their polarizability is different compared to the gasphase due to solvent effects. Solvent effects include structural changes, protonation and the local field enhancement through the solvent (water). We analyse the impact of these effects and find that all contribute to an increased effective polarizability in the solvent. We also address the excess polarizability relative to the displaced water cavity and develop a hybrid quantum-classical model that is in good agreement with self-consistent calculations. We apply our model to calculate the excess polarizability of 20 proteinogenic amino acids and determine the minimum resolution required to distinguish the different molecules and their ionised conformers based on their polarizability.