GLOSSARY

Amino Acid Oxidation describes amino-acid use in oxidative and fuel pathways, distinct from breaking protein chains or synthesising new protein.

Amino acid oxidation concerns metabolic use of the carbon skeleton rather than new protein synthesis. Intake, energy and exercise can change it. Not all protein in a large meal is necessarily oxidised immediately, and observing oxidation alone proves neither a deficiency nor harm from a supplement; the whole balance and context matter.

After nitrogen removal or transfer, an amino acid's carbon skeleton can enter energy, glucose-producing or ketogenic pathways. This differs from dietary essentiality. Glucogenic does not mean immediate, complete conversion of every gram eaten into blood glucose; bodily demand and metabolic conditions determine actual flux through these pathways.

Amino-acid nitrogen is transferred, reused or excreted; some becomes urea in the liver and is eliminated through the kidneys. The carbon skeleton has separate metabolic fates. This normal process alone does not diagnose kidney injury, although established kidney disease requires an individually appropriate dietary protein plan rather than automatic use of sport targets.