Chemists/Biochemists...wanna let me know how Pyruvate works?

[Entity]

I've tried a lot of different products to help boost my energy and weight-loss during periods of training, and I've noticed one of them - Pyruvate - working particularly well. I understand that it has been "proven" to work in clinical tests without any of the side-effects of stimulants (ephedra, etc.); however, I don't really understand chemically how it helps to boost endurance or the metabolism.

Can anyone enlighten me?

Rob

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

I couldn't tell you how it helps with your body-building, but I know a little about what it's involved in.

Basically, when you eat sugar (glucose), your body uses up ATP (energy) to "prime the pump" to get the breakdown process started. After doing a little shizat, two pyruvate molecules are made from the breakdown of glucose. The pyruvate then combines with another molecule (acetyl-CoA) to enter the Krebs Cycle and oxidative phosphorylation. These two steps are where you get the bulk of the energy. For comparison, the first step you get a net 2 ATP, after oxidative phosphorylation you get a net 32 ATP.

So I were to make a guess, I'd suppose that taking pyruvate bypasses the slow breakdown of glucose and goes straight to the high yield reactions.

 

[Entity]

<< So I were to make a guess, I'd suppose that taking pyruvate bypasses the slow breakdown of glucose and goes straight to the high yield reactions.
>>


Hmm...thanks. That's the kind of info I was looking for, but couldn't find it on PubMed at all, or on nutrition sites.

Rob

 

[Zebo]

It basically shortcuts the glycolysis metabolic cycle. Where normally you body would metabolise glucose to pyruvate and lactate and then into adenosine triphosphate and some other stuff. You get the skip the glucose step and mov straight to pyruvate and lactate >>>ATP..So you get ATP that much faster w/o working for it.

Edit: i meant without eating for it

 

[Ameesh]

also realize that pyruvate is also part of anerobic resperation , which bascially causes lactosis which is why you get cramps, so it would be a lot easier to get cramps if you had excess amounts of pyruvate in your body.