When learning about muscle metabolism, the example used is seemingly always sprints vs. walking or light jogging. It’s essentially a comparison between high-intensity and low-intensity training – anaerobic vs. aerobic conditions. And, in dealing with metabolism between these two conditions, it’s easy to fall into the trap that high-intensity training equals anaerobic, while low-intensity training
The PhD Muscle Blog
Galactose and Mannose Metabolism
So far in this metabolism series, we’ve painstakingly talked about glycolysis, its chemical “logic”, touched on some regulation, and most recently explored fructose metabolism. To wrap things up before getting deeper into regulation, I want to briefly talk about galactose and mannose – two sugars common to our diets and integral to our biology. I’ll
Fructose Metabolism
As part of this ongoing metabolism series, I’d be remiss if I didn’t discuss fructose. This is a molecule that sees a spike in controversy from time to time. Sucrose, or table sugar, is a molecule of glucose connected to a molecule of fructose, so its consumption is widespread in the Western Diet. There’s an
The Second Half Of Glycolysis
We left off with the two 3-carbon phosphate molecules, dihydroxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate. Dihydroxyacetone phosphate was converted to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, the molecule of choice to continue down the pathway, via triose phosphate isomerase. From here on out, every reaction we see involves two molecules of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate: the original one produced from fructose-1,6-bisphosphate and the one converted
The First Half of Glycolysis
All metabolic pathways share some common features and grasping the chemical logic behind them will lend to the understanding of many different pathways. If you haven’t already read my Intro into Metabolism, I highly recommend that you do (things will make a lot more sense). As a reminder, here’s the key points to think about
An Introduction To Metabolism
The term “metabolism” is, mistakenly, much too open for interpretation. It has become somewhat of a buzzword, haphazardly thrown around, resulting in further misuse and confusion of a critical topic in nutrition. Supplement companies boast of their products “speeding” metabolism up and trainers assert specific exercises can influence it. Is there any truth to this?
What Alcohol Actually Does To Your Metabolism
Alcohol’s seemingly central role in a vast array of settings makes it common topic of discussion in nutrition. In my practice, I often get asked questions pertaining to alcohol consumption phrased in a way to coax the desired answer by the patient or client. For example, “What if I only had x amount, just on
A Step Towards Gut Health
“Calories in vs. calories” out may be the most tirelessly repeated phrase in the nutrition world. From a strict thermodynamic view, it’s entirely correct – weight change is the result of energy balance. But, what exactly is “calories in”? When you eat 100 calories worth of something, did 100 calories actually enter in your body?