the difference between protein, carbohydrates and sugars in regards to energy for the body.
In: Biology
Proteins are composed mostly of amino acids, and they have to be turned into glucose by removing the amino (nitrogen) group from them, then splitting that into ammonia (which gets excreted) and a “carbon skeleton” which is basically just a carbohydrate and can be processed in the same way. This is a very small part of energy production, though, unless you’re deliberately eating a keto diet or something like that.
As for carbohydrates (and sugars, since sugars are just simple carbohydrates), those get converted into three types of simple sugar (glucose, galactose and fructose) by digestive enzymes. The glucose goes directly into the bloodstream while the other two get converted to glucose in the liver. This is why simple sugars are bad for diabetics, because they get dumped rapidly into the bloodstream, while fructose (e.g. fruit sugar) is a little bit better because it takes time for it to get converted in the liver.
Carbohydrates are chains of sugars. If you ever eat a small piece of bread, and let it soak in your mouth for a bit, it’ll start to taste sweeter, this is because your saliva is breaking down the carbs into simple sugars, which are sweet.
These sugars can then be broken down and used as energy in cells. Sugar and thus carbs, have an energy density of 4 Calories/gram.
Proteins are necessary separate from energy derivation because we need to make our own proteins, and need a constant supply of amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) to do so.
We can use them as fuel though, and they also have an energy density of 4 Calories/gram. So if you have a 0 Carb diet, you will likely need to supplement your diet with extra protein to be used as energy.
Sugars = relatively small store in the body but good for rapid use
Fats = large stores in the body and good for slow use
Proteins = last resort in terms of energy use. Primarily fulfil other important roles in the body
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