Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. When you are asleep you are burning some protein from your muscles and organs to keep your blood sugar levels steady. In fact, half of the blood sugar in your body comes from the release of an amino acid called alanine from the muscle. The liver removes the nitrogen containing amino group from alanine which leaves it as pyruvate, a key intermediate in glucose metabolism which is then converted to glucose and released from the liver into the blood. The glucose is delivered to the muscle where it is broken down to pyruvate which then picks up a nitrogen containing amino group from the branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, and valine) to reform alanine. This starts the process again which continues throughout the night and is called the Alanine Cycle.

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Categories: Nutrition