The wonders of the human body - Producing energy

Energy is needed by the human body to most importantly grow, stay alive, to keep warm and to stay generally active. A human’s main source of energy is ATP (Adenisine Triphosphate). This type of energy is used during physical activity to ensure that the activity can be completed and the recovery time of the muscles decreased. This is a chemical reaction in mitochondria using glucose to produce temporary stores of ATP, when energy is required the ATP bonds break to produce energy.

A-P-P-P -------------- A-P-P Bonds are Broken P + Energy

As glucose is a simple carbohydrate, it will release energy very quickly and will be used in short exertions of energy in sport, for example in a 100m sprint.

           The energy that a person requires is dependant on a few various things, the most common factors are sex, age, height, weight and also how fit you are. Obviously, larger people will require more energy because they have larger areas that require energy. The amount of energy that the body requires is counted in calories and this recommended number can be calculated by using software that will do it for you, to do this you will have to fill in the above factors that affect the amount of energy needed.

       For a male that is 20, has an ideal body weight, average height and is quite active then it is recommended that he intakes 3190 calories a day. Compared to a male that is 50, is slightly overweight, is of average height and isn’t very active then it is recommended that he intakes 2265 calories a day. This is just less than a 1/3 difference. This comes down to numerous reasons, mostly because of the amount of exercise undertaken and due to the age, at the age of 20, you are at the peak of physical fitness and the muscles are much stronger and require more energy to be successful at intense physical activity.

            For a female that is 20, has an ideal body weight, of average height and is quite active, it is recommended that she intakes 2481 calories a day. Compared to a female that is 50, is slightly overweight, is of average height and isn’t very active then it is recommended that she intakes 1839 calories a day. This is about a ¼ difference. This difference is smaller than in males. This could be down to numerous reasons, this may be because the drop of amount of physical activity or the deterioration of muscle is less than in men.  The major reason why women do not require as much energy is men is because women have a lower muscle mass than men which therefore means that less energy is required by the muscles, the large consumers of energy.

          The type of energy that is taken from different food and drinks varies, some sources provide short bursts of energy whereas others release a constant amount energy over a longer period of time. The most common sources of short bursts of energy can be found in sports drinks, such as Lucozade. This is because these contain high amounts of glucose, which is a simple carbohydrate. Simple carbohydrates in the Monosaccharide group release energy very quickly but often cause the glucose levels to drop below the level that they were before the intake of the food/drink. Other sources of energy are commonly found in foods such as bread and potatoes, these types of food are surprisingly high in carbohydrates and provide constant amounts of energy over a long period of time. These types of foods are ideal before a football match or a marathon. If you want to store large amounts of energy then you will intake some fatty foods, this can come from dairy products, pastry, certain meats and butter. Everybody needs some fat but it needs to be eaten in moderation as if you have excess energy in your body then it will be stored as fat in your body. In a human diet receives 60% of its energy from Starch, 33% from Sucrose and 7% from Lactose. This is because these sugars have complex bonds which means that they are harder to break down and will release a constant amount of energy is released over a long period of time, this way the body uses all of the energy from the food and makes sure that all of the bodily functions can be running steadily all of the time and not just working extremely fast and then slowing down significantly.

The wonders of the human body,eh?