Okay so we all know that we need energy to make our bodies work and that energy comes from macronutrients (ie carbs, fat, protein), but why from ONLY those three things? Isn’t there other forms of store energy in plant and animal matter that we could use to power our bodies? After all aren’t those three macro nutrients just chains of carbon and hydrogen with some other stuff hanging on, surely there most be other compounds that are similar enough that we could use as an energy source ?
In: Biology
There are more than three types of macronutrients – alcohol and ketones are examples of others.
But the reason we focus so much on the big three is because they are the ones most present in the foods we normally eat, so we’ve evolved to specialize in eating them, and as we’ve become more advanced as a species we’ve prioritized growing/raising the things that contain them for food.
Our bodies evolved to specifically eat those things. We can’t even process all carbs, take fiber or grass for example. There’s no reason to research alternative sources of energy when our body runs on those 3 and those 3 alone.
Because the way we “burn” calories isn’t like just throwing something into a fire. There are very specific, and complicated, chemical reactions that take place that allow our cells to use those things for energy. There *might* be some caloric value in, say, niacin, but it is chemically inaccessible to the human body.
Alcohol is a 4th.
Additionally:
Polyols are artifical sweeteners. They include lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol, glycerol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, and isomalt. [Though note that while erythritol is a polyol, it is listed separately as non-caloric. And while glycerol, aka glycerin or glycerine, is a sweetener, it is also used in food for other purposes.]
Organic acids include acetic acid (the main component of vinegar, other than water), as well as citric acid, ascorbic acid, and malic acid (the latter three are found in citrus fruits).
Fiber refers to dietary fiber, which is the type of fiber we can digest completely.
Salatrims are “short and long chain acyl triglyceride molecules”; they are a type of low-calorie fat substitute.
[https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/127021/what-substances-do-humans-consume-that-are-caloric-but-neither-protein-carb-no](https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/127021/what-substances-do-humans-consume-that-are-caloric-but-neither-protein-carb-no)
Latest Answers