Research
Hormonal
Gluconeogenesis from amino acids is a vital survival mechanism during starvation or low-carbohydrate intake, mobilizing muscle tissue to maintain blood glucose levels.
When you restrict carbohydrates or fast, your body makes glucose from non-carb sources, including amino acids from muscle. This is a normal survival mechanism. Combining this with adequate protein intake and resistance training helps minimize muscle loss during these periods.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The process of gluconeogenesis ultimately leads to a mobilization of muscle tissue to produce glucose. Fortunately, other precursor substrates are involved in this gluconeogenesis process, namely glycerol... and also a very important intermediate substrate viz. lactate...
Why this rating
Well-established physiological mechanism described in detail with hormonal regulation.
Source
Protein Turnover, Ureagenesis and Gluconeogenesis
Yves Schütz · International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research · 2011
DOI 10.1024/0300-9831/a000064
narrative_reviewCited 181×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Excess dietary protein cannot be stored in the body and is instead oxidized for energy or converted to glucose/urea, meaning high protein intake does not directly lead to increased tissue storage without concurrent resistance training.Good
- High protein intake significantly increases energy expenditure (thermogenesis) primarily through the energetic costs of protein turnover, ureagenesis, and gluconeogenesis.Good
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