Why do lipids produce more atp?

Each fatty acid molecule produces many acetyl CoA molecules (whereas glucose yields two), so much more ATP can be generated from a single fatty acid molecule than one glucose molecule.

Because there are so many carbons in three fatty acids, and each 2-carbon unit can enter the citric acid cycle, one fatty acid molecule can generate much more ATP than one molecule of glucose.

Fatty acids are oxidized through fatty acid or β-oxidation into two-carbon acetyl CoA molecules, which can then enter the Krebs cycle to generate ATP. If excess acetyl CoA is created and overloads the capacity of the Krebs cycle, the acetyl CoA can be used to synthesize ketone bodies.

Lipids are considered to be a very crucial source of energy. It is considered to be a better source than carbohydrates because It yields more fatty acids. Also, lipids are compact in structure so they can store energy quite efficiently.

Therefore, When the greater number of electrons around the carbon atoms in fatty acids are transferred to oxygen (when the fatty acids are oxidized), more energy is released than when the same process happens to carbohydrates.

When compared to other macronutrient classes (carbohydrates and protein), Fatty acids yield the most ATP on an energy per gram basis, when they are completely oxidized to CO₂ And water by beta oxidation and the citric acid cycle.

The entry of NADH and FADH2 in the electron transport chain will produce ATP molecules in the body. This is the whole process of how lipid molecules such as fatty acids can be broken down to produce ATP.

As mentioned earlier, the ATP yield obtained from lipid oxidation is over twice the amount obtained from carbohydrates and amino acids. So why don’t all cells simply use lipids as fuel? In fact, many different cells do oxidize fatty acids for ATP production (Figure 2).

One of the reasons low-fat diets are recommended for weight loss is because Fats, also called lipids, contain more calories per gram, and thus more energy, than carbohydrates or proteins.

Electron Transport System Generates 32 or 34 ATP molecules and is the cell’s main source of energy. Thus, the electron transport system produces the most ATP in cellular respiration.

The metabolic cycle that provides the highest net ATP per glucose molecule is Oxidative phosphorylation. In the mitochondria, aerobic respiration produces the greatest ATP per glucose module.

Phosphagen System

The phosphagen system (also called the ATP-CP system) is the quickest way to resynthesize ATP (Robergs & Roberts 1997). Creatine phosphate (CP), which is stored in skeletal muscles, donates a phosphate to ADP to produce ATP: ADP + CP = ATP + C.

Fats are the slowest source of energy but the most energy-efficient form of food. Each gram of fat supplies the body with about 9 calories, more than twice that supplied by proteins or carbohydrates. Because fats are such an efficient form of energy, the body stores any excess energy as fat.

The present study revealed that Glucose is not a major source of ATP production, whereas fatty acid is a major source of electrons for ATP production through fatty acid oxidation (FAO) and oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) in cancer cells.