What is Metabolism?
Metabolism is the name given to the complex series of chemical reactions inside of human cells that produce the functions associated with life.
What is Metabolism?
Metabolism is the actual process of breaking down substances that serve as fuel or food to an organism and converting it into some form of usable substance or energy. The two steps are each given a name. Catabolism is the process of breaking down and converting and anabolism is the process of transforming and utilizing.
The process of metabolism makes use of metabolic pathways that direct the chemical reactions and control them. Substances known as enzymes actually control the chemical reaction along the metabolic pathway. There may be a wide variety between the types and speeds of the chemical reactions between different forms of life, but the basic principles are surprisingly the same. A certain metabolic pathway known as the citric acid cycle exists in life forms as diverse as a single celled bacteria and an elephant.
It is thought that the efficient development of metabolic pathways early in the evolutionary history of life was so important to survival that the most successful methods were widespread among life forms. Even with a species, the metabolism speed or rate may vary widely, although the same metabolic pathways exist. It is the rate of metabolism that is of concern in the area of weight control.
Individuals with high metabolism rates tend to be very active as the rapidly produced energy is burned off with activity and motion. Not much is left over to be stored in the form of fat and these people are generally thin or within normal weight limits. Slower metabolism leads to reduced physical exertion and also seems to encourage the body to store fats. It is almost as if the body is reading the energy output and not the rate. This focus on total output may be fooling the body into thinking food supplies are dwindling and this encourages the metabolic pathway that stores extra fat around your belly.
Medical procedures have been developed to monitor the rate of metabolism and drugs can speed it up or slow it down to some degree. When a person understands his rate of metabolism, and the process itself, they are on the way to developing a good weight control plan. What is metabolism? It is the process that keeps life going and the more we understand it, the better our quality of life can become.