How are proteins (amino acids) used to produce energy?
How are proteins (amino acids) used to produce energy?
Proteins are one of the macronutrients required by the body, and it is mainly required for bodybuilding. The digestion of these biomolecules results in the formation of amino acids, which can either produce new proteins or amino acids.
In certain cases, the amino acids are degraded to produce energy. At first, the amino acid molecule undergoes oxidative deamination to form sugar molecules; in this process, the amino group is removed, which is later converted to urea in the liver cells and is excreted via urine. The remaining part of the amino acid is oxidized to form an alpha-keto acid that enters the TCA cycle and generates energy (ATP). The alpha-keto acid sometimes also enters the glycolytic process. It gets transformed into a pyruvate molecule that then enters the TCA cycle (for producing ATP) after being converted to acetyl-CoA.
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