If you're anything like me, you have lots of ambitious plans for the future.

I've got a whole series of new books I want to write thousands more videos to script,

but guess what?

None of us may be able to do any of the things we want to do if we don't have our health.

Welcome to the Nutrition Facts podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael

Greger. Today we take a look at AMPK, a fascinating enzyme that acts as sort of our body's fuel

gauge.

In my book on everything evidence-based in weight loss, How Not to Diet, I had a section

entitled Amping A&PK.

AMPK is an enzyme that acts as a universal fuel gauge for plants and animals

revving up when it detects depletion of the universal fuel.

The universal energy currency in all of biology

is a molecule called adenosine triphosphate, commonly known as

ATP. The tri-in-trophosphate means three as in tricycle, or in this case, ATPs 3

phosphates, where energy is stored. Plants make ATP with energy from the sun, and animals make it by

burning fat, carbohydrates,

and protein.

The energy is spent by releasing the phosphates, which transforms ATP to AMP, adenosine

mono-phosphate, with mono-meaning one, which then can be juiced up with two more phosphates

back to ATP, and the cycle continues.

In this way, every cell in our body and in every living thing is like a little rechargeable

battery.

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