• cattywampas
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    7 hours ago

    Sugar plus oxygen equals energy plus CO2 plus water.

    • sparkyshocks@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      3 hours ago

      That’s true of the metabolic pathways for fat, protein, and alcohol, too. Each oxygen molecule we breathe feeds into chemical reactions so that it picks up a carbon atom and becomes CO2 on the way out. The carbon comes from whatever food was metabolized, including anaerobic respiration where the lactic acid eventually gets cleared out.