What is Metabolism?

“Metabolism refers to a series of chemical reactions that occur in a living

organism to sustain life.”

Metabolism is the total amount of the biochemical reactions involved in maintaining the living
condition of the cells in an organism. All living organisms require energy for different essential
processes and for producing new organic substances.
The metabolic processes help in growth and reproduction and help in maintaining the structures of
living organisms. The organisms respond to the surrounding environment due to metabolic activities.
All the chemical reactions occurring in the living organisms from digestion to transportation of
substances from cell to cell require energy.
Metabolism is de fined as the total amount of the biochemical reactions involved in maintaining the
living conditions of the cells in an organism. All living organisms require energy for different essential
processes and for producing new organic substances.
The entire process of nutrition has two main parts- ingestion of food and utilization of food for
energy. In every living organism, let it be a simple prokaryotic bacterial cell or a eukaryotic cell, the
process of nutrition is the same. The concept of metabolic reactions concentrates on the utilization of
food for energy. Ingested food needs to be utilized for the turnover. The nutrition is the key and
energy extraction is the target of metabolism. The dynamic state of body constituents and the
concept of metabolism are discussed below in detail.

Concept of Metabolism
How does a cell extract energy and how does it synthesize the building blocks of its
macromolecules?
Here comes the concept of metabolism. Metabolism is the sum total of all the chemical reactions
taking place in the cells of the living organisms. This involves both breaking and making of
biomolecules. Catabolism and anabolism are two types of metabolism. Catabolism (breaking of
bonds) involves the breaking of biomolecules while anabolism (making of bonds) is the building of
new compounds required by the cells.
The food which we eat happens to be useless until and unless it undergoes metabolic changes.
During metabolism, biomolecules present in the food get utilized to extract the energy from the cell.
In addition, conversion and formation of the biomolecules take place. In other words, the
transformation of one compound results in the formation of another molecule. For example, the
proteins we obtained from the food are metabolized into amino acids, which are later utilized to
synthesize another protein required by the cell.
All metabolic changes take place in multiple reactions and follow a particular pathway called the
metabolic pathway. The metabolic pathway includes a series of reactions. The metabolite flow, the
rate, and direction at which metabolism takes place are called the dynamic state of body
constituents. All metabolic reactions are catalyzed by a set of proteinaceous compounds called
enzymes.
Hence, metabolism is an enzyme-catalyzed reaction which provides biomolecules, needed by the
cells for growth, maintenance, and repair etc. Let us summarize the purposes of metabolic pathways
in the below three points:

 To extract energy from the food for cellular activities.

 To convert food to building blocks, to synthesize biomolecules such as carbohydrates,
proteins, lipids and nucleic acids.
 To eliminate waste and toxic products.

Metabolic Process
There are two types of metabolic process:

 Catabolism
 Anabolism

Catabolism – This process is mainly involved in breaking down larger organic molecules into
smaller molecules. This metabolic process releases energy.
Anabolism – This process is mainly involved in building up or synthesizing compounds
from simpler substances required by the cells. This metabolic process requires and stores energy.
Metabolism is related to nutrition and the existence of nutrients. Bioenergetics describes the
metabolism as the biochemical pathway through which the cells obtain energy. One of the major
aspects is the energy formation.

Nutrition and Energy

The processes of metabolism depend on the nutrients that get digested to produce energy. This
energy is necessary to synthesize nucleic acids, proteins and other biomolecules in our body.
Encompassed nutrients include various substances for the body requirements which are either in the
sufficient amount or insufficient, resulting in poor health, concerning metabolism.
Necessary nutrients help by supplying the required energy and other necessary chemicals that the
body cannot synthesize on its own. Food provides different substances that are essential for the
bodybuilding and repairing of tissues along with the proper functioning of the body.
The diet requires both organic nutrients and inorganic chemical compounds.
Organic nutrients include fats, vitamins, carbohydrates, and proteins.
Inorganic chemical compounds include oxygen, water, and other dietary minerals.

Carbohydrates in Metabolism
Carbohydrates are supplied in three forms:

 Starch
 Sugar
 Cellulose
Starch and sugar are the major forms of energy for humans. Metabolism of carbohydrates and sugar
helps in the production of glucose.
Carbohydrates are one of the widely discussed topics among students of science across the world
and they are simply referred by names like disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polysaccharides or
by terms like complex carbohydrates. There are different ways in which carbohydrates helps living
beings like storing energy in the form of glycogen and starch. It helps in cell signalling as glycolipids
and glycoproteins that act as determinants of blood groups. It helps in transporting energy to the
muscles and the nervous system. This would mean every individual cell in particular other than the
mainly chosen primary fuel molecule with particular differences on distinct cell types. Also, it acts as
surface makers of cells, forms a part of nucleic acids like mRNA, tRNA, ribosome, and genes and so
on. As far as humans are concerned, the carbohydrates that aid the metabolism are available in the
form of starch and glycogen as alpha glycosidic bonds.

Carbohydrate Metabolism
Dietary glucose is found aplenty in starch. Amalyses are the enzymes that degrade starch for
assisting metabolism. Glucose has many sources such as lactose (from milk), fructose (from fruits),
and sucrose (from table sugar). Active membrane transport systems aid the absorption of fructose,
glucose, and fructose which are known by the name monosaccharide species. Monosaccharide
components are formed by the division of disaccharides by special intestinal glucosidases. Glucose
types like maltose are hydrolyzed by isomaltase with less ability to get desired results. Intolerance
for lactose is caused by lactase deficiency – an enzyme which is needed to break down the lactose
in milk and other dairy products.
The small intestine contains intestinal mucosal cells that transport the monosaccharides into
the circulatory system, where they move on into the liver. Here, the galactose and fructose are
converted into glucose. The liver’s primary role is to regulate the levels of glucose in the blood, or in
other words, act as a blood “glucostat”. Glucose molecules produced in excess are stored primarily
in the liver and muscle cells as glycogen. It is also stored in the form of metabolized fat in
adipocytes. Instead of fat, only glycogen would be used to maintain an adequate level of glucose in
the bloodstream when food intake is restricted. Fat can be used for the oxidative regeneration of
ATP and reductive power (NADH).

Proteins in Metabolism
Proteins are important for building tissues. They help in maintaining the structure of the cells, its
functions, the formation of haemoglobin, and several other body functions. The amino acids of
proteins are beneficial for nutrition. Few amino acids are not synthesized by the body and are taken
in from the food we eat. These amino acids include:

 Lysine
 Tryptophan
 Methionine
 Isoleucine
 Leucine
 Phenylalanine
 Valine
 Threonine

How to Increase Metabolism?

Metabolism can be increased by:

 To be fit and healthy, we need to avoid more calories intake and lose extra pounds. We eat
to deliver energy for our body to perform its functions. Eating too little quantities could slow
down our metabolism and body cannot provide essential minerals. As per the research,
extreme dieting leads to weight loss which is muscle mass and not fat mass.
 Having proper breakfast, boost up the body’s metabolism and keeps us energetic throughout
the day. Skipping morning breakfast are more likely to have poor metabolic energy.
 Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system and can activate our metabolism rate by 5 to
8 percent.
 According to researchers, fibre can help in burning fat by 30 percent. People who include
more fibre in their diet remain fit and healthy.
 Including more organic foods like peaches, bell peppers, celery, apples, lettuce, grapes can
boost up the metabolism rate in our body.
Metabolism is the sum total of chemical reactions taking place in the cells of the living organisms. All
metabolic changes that take place are in multiple reactions and follow a particular pathway called the
metabolic pathway. This metabolic pathway includes a series of reactions which involve both
breaking and making of biomolecules. In other words, metabolism results in either complex
compounds, being formed from simple molecules or simple micromolecules, being formed from
complex molecules.

Metabolic Basis For Living

Metabolic pathways involve the extraction of energy by breaking molecules and using this energy to
synthesize the building blocks. The process of metabolism occurs in two phases, namely anabolism
and catabolism.
The metabolic pathway in which a complex molecule is produced from simple molecules is called an
anabolic pathway. Since it involves the synthesis of metabolites, it is also known as the biosynthetic
pathway.
For example, amino acids become proteins. The catabolic pathway is another metabolic pathway
where a more complex structure is broken down into simple molecules.
Glycolysis is an example of the catabolic pathway where more complex 6-C glucose molecule is
reduced to 3-C pyruvic acid.
Anabolism takes place at the expense of energy, i.e., anabolic pathways need energy input and
consume energy. Catabolism liberates energy. Energy is released when glucose is converted to
lactic acid. In living organisms, the liberated energy packs are stored and reserved for later use.
Living systems use this stored energy for making new bonds (anabolism), mechanical work and
other purposes in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
Metabolism and The Living State
As we all know, every living organisms use and release energy. But how do they remain in the living
state? What is the role of metabolism in it?
As we know, each living organism, be it prokaryotes or eukaryotic fungi, are composed of thousands
of biomolecules/metabolites. But the proportion varies.
Within an organism, the concentration of one biomolecule may be more or less than the
concentration of another biomolecule. And this non-equilibrium state of metabolites keeps them in a
steady state. As they say, ‘systems at equilibrium cannot perform work’. A living system can never
be in equilibrium as they are continuously undergoing metabolism; energy is released and used
continuously. Metabolism helps to maintain a non-equilibrium steady-state in organisms and thus,
they are in living state. We can conclude that to be in a living state, it is important to be in a non-
equilibrium state