How does the Body know at what exact point of energy-consumption to “release” long term energy, i. e.: to burn fat?

61 views

How does the Body know at what exact point of energy-consumption to “release” long term energy, i. e.: to burn fat?

In: 9

Anonymous 0 Comments

Your body has signaling mechanisms that trigger your cells to take certain actions.

In this case, your pancreas (which is responsible for regulating blood sugar, among other things) detects low blood sugar and releases a hormone called glucagon. That hormone is picked up by cells in your liver, which store a molecule called glycogen that can be broken down into sugar on demand. When the liver cells detect glucagon, they break down glycogen into glucose (sugar) and release it into your bloodstream. (Similarly, when your blood sugar is high, your pancreas releases insulin, which causes your liver cells to *capture* glucose and convert it to glycogen.)

When glycogen stores are low, similar feedback effects start converting fat into ~~glycogen~~ (EDIT: nope, goes right to acetyl-CoA, just like sugars do) and causing adipocytes (fat cells) to release their stored fat for use.