Metabolism & Nutrition, part 1: Crash Course A&P #36
Metabolism is a complex process that has a lot more going on than personal trainers and commercials might have you believe. Today we are exploring some of ...
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I weigh about 80 kilograms. Most of that, let’s say 64 percent, is water -- though you can’t tell by looking. I mean, as organisms go, I like to think that I look fairly solid. After water, the next largest proportion of me is protein, about 16% -- not just in my muscles, but also in things like the tiny sodium-potassium pumps in my neurons, and the hemoglobin in my blood, and the enzymes driving the chemical reactions in every one of my 37 trillion cells. Then another 16% of me is fat, which I’m totally OK with; Four percent of me is minerals, like the calcium and phosphorus in my bones, and the iron in my blood; and 1 percent is carbohydrates, most of which is either being consumed as I talk to you, or is sitting around as glycogen waiting to be used. But here’s the thing: It’s...
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I weigh about 80 kilograms. Most of that, let’s say 64 percent, is water -- though you can’t tell by looking. I mean, as organisms go, I like to think that I look fairly solid. After water, the next largest proportion of me is protein, about 16% -- not just in my muscles, but also in things like the tiny sodium-potassium pumps in my neurons, and the hemoglobin in my blood, and the enzymes driving the chemical reactions in every one of my 37 trillion cells. Then another 16% of me is fat, which I’m totally OK with; Four percent of me is minerals, like the calcium and phosphorus in my bones, and the iron in my blood; and 1 percent is carbohydrates, most of which is either being consumed as I talk to you, or is sitting around as glycogen waiting to be used. But here’s the thing: It’s...
