Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site rochester.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!rochester!nemo From: nemo@rochester.UUCP (Wolfe) Newsgroups: net.veg,net.med Subject: Re: Nutrition Puzzle Solved Message-ID: <2263@rochester.UUCP> Date: Wed, 17-Oct-84 08:52:33 EDT Article-I.D.: rocheste.2263 Posted: Wed Oct 17 08:52:33 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 18-Oct-84 19:04:08 EDT References: <70@azure.UUCP> Organization: U. of Rochester, CS Dept. Lines: 32 > Both foods supply 24 Calories per ounce, but if you ate a > lot of the food with protein and worked out, you would gain > muscle mass, whereas if you ate a lot of the food with FAT, > unless you really burned off all the calories, you would gain > FAT mass. This is a crude example, but the point here > is that Calories does not tell you what form your Calories are > in. If the major contribution to the total Caloric intake is > FAT, you will have a hard time losing weight (if that is your > goal). You get the point. > > After all, isn't protein really > meant to build and maintain the body? Teleology? > > That is, when the amino acids pass into the circulation they > are used to reconstruct more than 1,600 different kinds of > protein that make up muscle tissues, hormones, enzymes, etc. > Why would the body use amino acids as fuel? Except if forced > to? > > ECZ The body requires only a small amount of protein to fulfill its amino acid needs. The remainder is routinely burned as fuel. Amino acids are not stored by the body. As long as your diet is not strictly fat and carbohydrates, which would require some amount of planning to pull off, you are very likely to be obtaining sufficient amounts of protien for normal bodily needs. You are correct in questioning the model of the body as a calorimeter, since not all of the energy in the food is used up before it is egested. Fiber in the diet helps keep food moving on through, as well as cleaning up the intestinal walls, and fewer calories are absorbed. Nemo