Ask A Scientist Molecular Biology Archive

name        Stephen
status     student
age           20s

Question -   When converting  food into energy does everything we eat
become sugar or only some things,  or I guess what powers us besides sugar
specifically looking at carbs vs  proteins do they both follow the same
process to become energy?
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Your metabolism is frugal and is a saver.  Everything that you eat  
ultimately can be broken down into sugar because it ONLY uses sugar for  energy. It 
converts what you need at the moment into sugar and then saves  the rest.  It 
first tries to convert excess sugar into glycogen and stores  it in the liver, 
but there is only so much "storage space".  Once that is  gone, the rest if 
converted to fat.  Proteins are broken down into separate  amino acids which can 
then be made directly into protein again.  On the  flip side, everything you 
are can ultimately be converted back into sugar.   Fat can be broken down to 
sugar again, and protein can be, too.  But that  is a last resort.  
 
vanhoeck
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