Importance Of Metabolism

There are many important things in our life that if we did not have them, we would die. One that not many people would think about is metabolism. The chemical reactions happening in our body are essential to life on earth. Metabolism can be a very confusing subject with many different parts to it. The process of getting energy from food during metabolism, diseases that are a part of it, and the exercise that affects it are three main parts.
Metabolism is “all the chemical reactions that happen in cells and organisms” (Mandal). There are two very important glands that play a part in metabolism. The thyroid gland produces the thyroxine hormone that helps “determine how fast or slow the chemical reactions happen during metabolism” (Nemours). Another gland that plays a role in metabolism is the pancreas. The “pancreas produces hormones that decide whether the metabolic activity will be anabolic or catabolic” (Nemours).
According to Nemours there are two main parts to metabolism: catabolism and anabolism. Catabolism is the breaking down of molecules into energy and anabolism is the building and storing of that energy.This means anabolism builds up molecules while catabolism breaks down molecules into smaller particles (Nemours). The way we get energy from metabolism starts out with the simplest thing, the sun.

People then eat the food which is broken down into sugars and taken in as energy by the body. The sugar is released into the cells of the body where enzymes, which are molecules in the body that help speed things up, break the proteins down and use them for energy. Compounds that are broken down get absorbed into blood and cells. In the cells there are more enzymes that help “metabolize” the compounds (Nemours). Energy from compounds is stored in “body tissues” and is ready for use (Nemours). When these reactions do not happen, a metabolic disorder can