1) You have just eaten a hamburger. Describe the digestion and absorption of the protein in the hamburger up to the point that the amino acids are absorbed by skeletal muscles. 2) What is meant by the amino acid pool and what is the connection to protein turnover? 3) Describe what is meant by protein sparing. The Digestion and Absorption of Protein in a Hamburger

The Digestion and Absorption of Protein in a Hamburger

The digestion and absorption of protein in a hamburger begins as soon as it is consumed. The digestion of protein involves the breakdown of large protein molecules into smaller fragments known as peptides and then into individual amino acids (Holland et al. 2017). In the stomach, peptides are broken down by enzymes such as pepsin and then further broken down in the small intestine by enzymes such as trypsin, chymotrypsin, and carboxypeptidases (Yamada et al. 2021). As the peptides and amino acids are broken down, they are absorbed by the small intestine via active and passive transport (Liu et al. 2020). Once the small intestine has absorbed the amino acids, they enter the bloodstream and are distributed to various tissues. Skeletal muscles, in particular, require a lot of amino acids to repair and grow. The amino acids are absorbed by the muscles and are used to form new proteins or are added to the amino acid pool (Chen et al. 2021). The amino acid pool is a term that refers to the reserve of amino acids stored in the muscles, which can be used for various processes such as protein synthesis and the maintenance of a balanced amino acid concentration in the body (Gleeson et al. 2016). The protein turnover process is the continual breakdown and synthesis of proteins in the body, and the amino acid pool constantly replenishes the amino acids used in protein turnover (Rosenbloom et al. 2022). Cont…