The Obesity Epidemic: What Caused It? How Can We Stop It?

by Zoe Harcombe

Respiratory Quotient for alcohol and different sugars and used this ratio to inform us about the metabolism of these substances by the body. (The Respiratory Quotient is the ratio of the volume of carbon dioxide expired to the volume of oxygen consumed by an organism or cell in a given period of time). The Respiratory Quotient for carbohydrate is 1.0; the RQ for fat is 0.7 and various figures are given for protein between 0.8 and 0.9. If the Respiratory Quotient goes above 1.0, this indicates that anaerobic (without oxygen) respiration is taking place. Under anaerobic conditions the cell cannot operate the citric acid cycle and the subsequent electron transport chain because both of these processes depend on oxygen. In this circumstance ATP can be generated with lactic acid fermentation – hence the burn that anaerobic exercise can generate.