Protein Metabolism
Carbohydrate,Fat and Protein metabolism; Explanation on them and what is Low-carbohydrate include Body functio
This is basic biochemistry. All cells (really, all bacteria, all fungi, all plants, all animals) use glucose or other simple sugars as a main source of fuel for energy generation. (Some will argue that plants actually produce glucose, they both produce and consume it). The process of glucose breakdown is glycolysis, and it generates energy in the form of ATP, and converts molecules such as NADH to NAD+. This electron loss gets passed through the electron transport chain in the mitocondria to generate more ATP.
Carbohydrates include complex and simple sugars. Simple sugars can be broken down directly in cells, there are specific receptors that bring in the sugar. Complex carbs such sucrose (a disaccryide, or a molecule containing two simple sugars) just contain more than one simple sugar in a chain. They are broken down in the gut by specific enzymes that break the chain and release simple sugars. Starch is a form of a carbohydrate, but not digestable to mammals, because we lack the enzyme to break it down. Some bacteria don’t though, and they live inside the gut of some mammals such as cows, and when cows eat grass, the starch is broken down by the bacteria and some of it is released into the gut. So thats why mammalian herbavours exist.
Fat metabolism. Fats are long carbon chain connected at one end, usually three are connected to glycerol, this is called a triglyceride, and is a perferred form of storage. Fats are broken down by chopping the carbon chain and generating energy. Fat burning is slow and fat is a backup fuel source; the primary being simple sugars.
Protein metabolism. Proteins are digested by proteases in the gut, and the free amino acids are absorbed into the blood stream, where they can enter cells. Cells can utilize amino acids for energy, but it’s not that efficient. Instead cells utilized amino acids for building new proteins; including the ‘essential’ amino acids, those that can’t be generated by mammalian cells (we lack the enzymes). So some amino acids are absolutely critical for our well-being.
Low carb diets simply don’t have much carbs, and force the body to switch to fat to burn (in theory). In reality it doesn’t work too well. During initial exercise, muscles use glycogen, a stored form of glucose, for energy. Also fat is utilized, and a bit of protein. After 2 hours of exercise (or so, depending on the person), muscle glycogen is depleted, and body must use fat and glucose and protein. If you do not intake glucose during this exertion, your performance will rapidly drop off; you can only burn so much fat at a time. So the best advice for fat burning is exercise (at 60-70% max heart rate) for an hour or two, 3, 4x a week, and keep hydrated with water or gatoraid.
High carb diets make it easier for long term exercise by increasing the amount of muscle glycogen.
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