How do we gain energy out of fat?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the biochemical process of how the body converts fat into energy, particularly focusing on the breakdown of fat into its components and the subsequent energy production. The scope includes biochemical pathways and metabolic processes related to energy extraction from fats.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant notes that fat contains 9 calories per gram, which is more than double that of carbohydrates, and mentions the breakdown process into fatty acids and glycerol.
  • Another participant provides links to external resources, including a Wikipedia page on fatty acid metabolism, suggesting it as a source for further reading.
  • Additional resources from biochemistry textbooks are shared, indicating that the topic is commonly covered in academic literature.
  • A participant humorously remarks on the complexity of the topic, suggesting that a comprehensive explanation would require extensive writing, while also highlighting that fat oxidation produces water as a byproduct.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the biochemical processes involved in fat metabolism but do not reach a consensus on the depth of explanation needed or the efficiency of providing detailed responses in a forum format.

Contextual Notes

The discussion does not delve into specific biochemical pathways or mechanisms in detail, and there may be assumptions about prior knowledge of metabolic processes among participants.

Physicsrapper
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"When your body runs out of glucose, it turns to fat for energy, which has 9 calories in every gram. This is a little more than double the amount in carbohydrates. Converting fat into energy takes longer than it does to convert glucose into energy, because fat must be first be broken down into its two component parts: fatty acid and glycerol. Each part follows a separate pathway to ultimately become available as energy. One common saturated fat, palmitic acid, makes 130 molecules of ATP for each molecule of fat."

This is all I found about this topic in the internet. Could you please explain it further (how fat is broken down exactly to convert it into energy) or find a source where I can read more about it?
 
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This is a topic that is covered in most Biochemistry textbooks (some of which are freely available online). For example, see:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21173/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22581/
 
Yes, this is an invitation to write several textbook chapters, which we often get - not efficient to do for one student!

That said, a little fact I like that seems often overlooked, is that the oxidation of fats is the source as well as of energy, of water. The camel's hump is fat, not water
 

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