While they may not have been categorized as a super food, pears contain a multitude nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that encourage weight loss, antioxidant activity, and improve digestion (OrganicFacts.net, 2018). As we consume pears the cells in our bodies assume the task of extracting these nutrients and metabolizing them into energy. Hence, the ingeniously engineered and highly efficient process of cellular respiration accomplishes this task in four complex steps (Daempfle, 2016). To start, a small amount of ATP energy is utilized to initiate the first step of cellular respiration, glycolysis, which converts glucose to either pyruvic acid or pyruvate. Utilizing a series of chemical reactions in the cytoplasm, a glucose molecule is split in half to form two molecules of pyruvic acid. Another series of cellular reactions occur, ultimately resulting in the production of 4 ATP energy molecules. …show more content…
This process occurs when pyruvic acid donates its high energy electrons to NAD+, which forms NADH. While no ATP energy is produced during this step, shuttling acetyl-CoA and the high energy electrons attached to NADH into the mitochondrion sets the stage for the third step of cellular respiration. The Krebs cycle, utilizes enzymes to harvest and transform the stored energy in acetyl-CoA into additional NADH and FADH2 molecules. As the Krebs cycle churns to break down carbon and produce more high energy electrons for NADH and FADH2 molecules to transport, it also generates 2 ATP energy molecules. Nonetheless, most of the energy generated during this step of cellular respiration will be produced by the NADH and FADH2 molecules once the complete the fourth and final step of cellular