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2002/07/16, 04:50 PM
From Blood Ph.
Inside each of the cells of our body (except mature red blood cells) are several microscopic, oval-shaped organelles known as mitochondria. The mitochondria (or mitochondrion, in the singular) are often referred to as the body's energy furnaces, because it is here that the nutrients extracted from our foods are converted into energy. This happens through a complex set of interactions known as the Krebs cycle (named after its discoverer, Sir Hans Krebs), in association with the electron transport chain, which completes the work started by the Krebs cycle.
Essentially the Krebs cycle (also known as the citric acid cycle) involves a series of enzymatic reactions that transform proteins (in the form of their constituent amino acids), fats (as their constituent fatty acids) and carbohydrates (as glucose) into intermediate substances. These intermediates are then passed into the electron transport chain where they undergo a further series of reactions - receiving and donating electrons down the chain - to produce energy, in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), CO2 and water. The presence of sufficient oxygen within the cells is essential to the success of this entire procedure, as the term oxidation itself indicates. The primary substrates, or raw materials, for the Krebs cycle are glucose (extracted from carbohydrate foods) and fatty acids. Most of the glucose forms oxaloacetate in the Krebs cycle, while the remaining glucose combines with the fatty acids and amino acids to form acetyl coenzyme acetate (acetyl CoA). These substances are then further spun around the Krebs cycle with the help of additional amino acids, vitamins, enzymes and organic acids. In a dizzying whirl of back-and-forth biochemical transmutations, acetyl CoA reacts with oxaloacetate to produce citrate (citric acid), which then reconverts back into oxaloacetate until the coenzyme intermediates are shuttled out the bottom of the Krebs cycle into the electron transport chain to complete the production of ATP.
If insufficient oxygen is delivered to the cells, this entire enterprise will be compromised. Insufficient oxygen delivery can be due to any of the following: (a) a lack of oxygen in the blood, if the blood is in an overly acidic state; (b) an excess of oxygen in the blood in the case of an overly alkaline venous blood pH; this is accompanied by a concomitant lack of CO2, which, among its many other functions, acts as a catalyst to release oxygen from the hemoglobin, freeing it up so that it can be absorbed into the tissue cells; or (c) to an insufficiency of the enzyme 2,3-DPG, which is also required to release the oxygen molecule from the red blood cell. Alternately, an imbalance of raw materials fed into the Krebs cycle will result in less than optimal energy production, as both the oxaloacetate and acetyl CoA "sides" of the Krebs cycle need to balance each other out for its full energy potential to be realized.
To further complicate matters, each of the two Oxidative Metabolic Types - whose energy levels are directly tied to the functioning of the Krebs cycle - require a different fuel mix. Fast Oxidizers tend to burn up glucose too rapidly, therefore requiring more proteins and fats to slow down the rate of glucose combustion in the Krebs cycle. Conversely, Slow Oxidizers do not burn up glucose rapidly enough; therefore they require a higher percentage of glucose (and less protein and fats) to be fed into the Krebs cycle to fan the flames of oxidation. If either of the Oxidative types eats a diet that is inappropriately weighted in the wrong direction, the result is insufficient ATP production and metabolic imbalance.
ATP is needed to carry out all of our biological functions. One of its primary responsibilities is protein synthesis, which itself is essential for the production of the special class of proteins known as enzymes. Enzymes are the necessary catalysts (or "spark plugs") for every single biochemical reaction in the body, from digestion to the production of neurotransmitters and hormones, and from immune function to tissue growth and DNA repair. Impaired energy production can be seen as the central malfunction that underlies all chronic disease. Thus, we can see that feeding the body the wrong "fuel mix" for its Metabolic Type can have far-reaching consequences, and it is precisely these negative consequences that the nutritional protocols of Metabolic Typing seek to avoid.
Approximately 80% of the body's energy is generated through the Krebs cycle, in concert with the electron transport chain. The other 20% is produced through the less efficient process of glycolysis, in which a portion of the glucose that would otherwise be fed into the Krebs cycle is siphoned off and converted into pyruvate, then ATP. Glycolysis can only use glucose as its raw material - very little of which can be stored in the body at any one time - whereas the Krebs cycle also uses fat, a far more abundant energy source. However, glycolysis does not require the presence of oxygen (defining it as an anaerobic process), unlike the Krebs cycle, which can only function in the presence of oxygen (defining it as an aerobic process). Because the 20% of energy produced through glycolysis is not enough to drive our metabolic processes, it alone is insufficient to sustain human life; hence the need for oxygen for our survival. Furthermore, while the energy produced through the Krebs cycle generally burns "clean", the energy generated by glycolysis produces "smoke" in the form of lactic acid, a potentially damaging waste product that places a serious burden on the body's detoxification systems.
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Practice does NOT make perfect. Perfect practice does.
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