nutrition

[Terny]

Does protein store as fat if not used by the body

[londonchris59]

Your body turns excess calories (=energy) into fat to store the energy for times of need. If you eat too much of anything your body will store it as fat.  There are a lot of very interesting articles on amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein on websites like aminoacidstudies.org. One interesting fact to keep in mind is that sugar (carbohydrates) and fat have 8kcal / gram, but protein has just 4 kcal / gram.  

[star queen]

Forget the Hoodia.  Beer Beer Beer is correct in protein metabolism.  Protein is rarely stored in the body.  The reason you may think protein is stored as fat is because all animal protein has fat in it.  It is the fat in the meats that would be stored as fat in the body, not the protein.  Lean meats have less fats, thus less fat is stored in the adipose (fat) tissues. The fats in proteins are usually a good fat.  You need these fats for cellular health.

[BeerBeerBeer]

Protein is stored as glycoprotein (bond of protein and sugar) in liver and also muscles, if it is not use immediately. Later on glycoproteins are used in various bodily functions (especially hormone related). If you body feels like it is being starved, it would tap into the glycoproteins for sugar and protein production (like if you haven't eaten in a really long time). But when you eat regularly glucose and lipids (sugar and fat) areused for energy production.