Our body needs some kind of energy or fuel to be able to function and perform day to day activities. What we put into our body influences how the body and muscles work. Food is the source with which our muscles generate power. The topic of this blog is how food is transformed into muscle power.
Food
Almost everything we consume naturally comes from plants or animals. From plant sources, we eat fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds. And from animal sources we eat meat, milk, eggs, honey etc.
The foods we consume are generally categorised into two groups - food types and nutrients.
- Food types - vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy, and meats.
- Nutrients - Nutrients are substances in our food that are essential for our body to maintain its basic function, create energy, and grow. And nutrients are proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water.
How is food broken down?
There are many nutrients in each bite of food we eat. For the body to be able to use these nutrients, they have to be further broken down into smaller absorbable units. This is done by our digestion.
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| Image Source: https://www.science-sparks.com/digestive-system-model/ |
The first step of this digestive process begins in the mouth. As we chew the food in our mouth, saliva is added to the food and it is broken down into smaller pieces. This semi-liquid food is then transported through our esophagus to our stomach.
Acids and enzymes are added to the food in the stomach. Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions to break down food/nutrients. The food is churned in the stomach and sent further down to the small intestine. During this process, some of the nutrients are absorbed into the body through the stomach.
Our small intestine continues to break down the food (called Chyme) and does the biggest part of the nutrient absorption. This chyme is now sent to the large intestine where more water gets absorbed back into the body and the remaining material is pushed further down to be excreted from the body.
Nutrients - Macro and Micro
The nutrients absorbed into our bodies during digestion are categorised into two types - macro nutrients and micro nutrients.
- Macronutrients are nutrients that provide us energy. We need them in large quantities, hence the name Macro. These nutrients are classified into three types: Carbohydrates, Fats and Proteins.
- Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals, that are responsible for a diverse range of functions, including immune function, growth, blood clotting etc.
- There are six vitamin types - Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, and the B Vitamin group (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and B12).
- There are several minerals essential for the human body, like Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Chromium, Selenium etc.
Which nutrients help power our muscles?
The food we consume has both macro nutrients and micro nutrients. Even though both these nutrients are needed to produce energy for our muscles, muscle power is primarily produced from macro nutrients - carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. These macro nutrients are broken down during our digestion. Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose, fats into fatty acids and glycerol, and proteins into amino acids.
Glucose, fatty acids, glycerol, and amino acids are then fed into what is called a Krebs cycle or Citric acid cycle that produces ATP (adenosine triphosphate). These ATPs are the source of energy for our muscles to generate power.
I will share in detail the transformation and production of ATP in my upcoming posts.
Stay healthy and fit and enjoy finding joy in health!