Why Do Muscle Cells Need Food & Oxygen?
Food and oxygen make muscles work. Every activity requires energy to power its doings and includes the work performed by muscles. Muscle cells use food and oxygen to obtain the energy it needs to operate.
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Features
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Food supplies the fuel for energy. Oxygen supplies the means of combusting the fuel to release its stored energy.
Types
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The three types of energy that contain molecules in food are carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Carbohydrates function as the body's primary fuel type because it is the easiest to break down for energy.
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Function
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Energy is stored within the chemical bonds that form each molecule of carbohydrate, fat and protein. In order to release this energy these bonds have to be broken.
Process
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The process of digestion breaks food molecules down to a level where they are small enough to absorb into your bloodstream. Your bloodstream transports these smaller molecules into your body's cells. Through a process called cellular respiration, your cells break these molecules down further until the bonds that hold the energy are broken and the energy is released. Cellular respiration requires oxygen.
Effects
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Your muscle cells use the energy released in cellular respiration to synthesis new compounds to build, repair and maintain its tissues; to transport material in and out of its cell; and to perform its mechanical function of expanding and contracting.
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