5th February 2024

Processes

Carbohydrates form a significant portion of the human diet and nutrition. This comprises three principal monosaccharides: glucose, fructose, and galactose. Glycogen is the storage form of carbohydrates in humans. 

In carbohydrate metabolism, one needs to understand:

Glycolysis

Glycolysis is a metabolic pathway catalysed by enzymes to convert glucose into pyruvate.

Gluconeogenesis

Gluconeogenesis results in the generation of glucose from non-carbohydrate sources that can be converted to pyruvate or intermediates of glycolysis. 

Glycogenolysis

This refers to the breakdown of glycogen into glucose-1-phosphate and then to glucose-6-phosphate, an intermediate in the glycolysis pathway. 

Glycogenesis

This refers to the process of synthesising glycogen. The glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) is the input substance for glycogenesis, created from glucose by glucokinase or hexokinase.