What substance powers the body?

Answer 1

The body requires energy and oxygen in order to "power" itself. Oxygen comes from the air we breath and energy comes from the food we eat. The food we eat get's digested in our intestines and gets absorbed into our blood stream from there. A small amount of mechanical digestion occurs in the month and stomach, but it's the small intestines that do most of the work. After the energy enters our blood (as glucose) it enters the cells and undergoes various transformation steps within the Krebs cycle and within the electron transfer chain which is where the oxygen comes in handy. The end result of these processes is to produce a chemical called ATP (adenosine triphosphate) which is used by the body as a fuel because it provides direct amounts of energy when it's chains are broken down after which is becomes ADP (adenosine diphosphate) and goes back to the top of the Krebs cycle and back into the electron transfer chain (ie: it gets reused).Ultimately, all the food we eat becomes glucose no matter where we got the calories from (ie: fat, protein or carbs). Although a small amount of proteins in the form of amino acids do get reused in their "raw" states. Protein comes from meat or vegetable sources. The white of an egg is a good source of protein.