ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the mammalian metabolism is described, and the reader will note that there are many similarities between this metabolism and microbial metabolism. The term metabolism includes all those reactions that occur in the body that involve the breakdown of large molecules into smaller ones and the subsequent production of other large molecules from the smaller ones. The regulation of carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism is an integrated process that occurs at many different levels in the body. The use of macronutrients in the diet relies on the flux of the basic components of these nutrients through the pathways of intermediary metabolism. Glucose, the major component of the carbohydrate class of macronutrients, is sent through one of several pathways after it is phosphorylated to glucose 6-phosphate. Fuel for metabolism is also provided by the food lipids. The glycolytic pathway for the anaerobic catabolism of glucose can be found in all cells in the body.
