Research
Micronutrients & recovery
Under conditions of oxidative stress, glucose is prioritized for the Pentose Phosphate Pathway (PPP) to generate NADPH for antioxidant defense, whereas glycolysis is suppressed.
When your body is under significant stress (like intense exercise or illness), glucose is used to protect your cells from damage rather than just for energy. This highlights the importance of maintaining adequate glucose availability during high-stress periods.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
In other words, cells prioritize the metabolism of glucose through the PPP over standard reactions of upper glycolysis in order to maintain a sufficient NADPH/NADP+ ratio needed for the counteraction of acute oxidative challenge.
Why this rating
This is a review paper citing various studies; it is not a primary clinical trial.
Source
Glucose as a Major Antioxidant: When, What for and Why It Fails?
Andriy Cherkas et al. · Antioxidants · 2020
DOI 10.3390/antiox9020140
narrative_reviewCited 98×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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