How Nutrients Power the Cell and Shape Human Metabolism

When we think of food, it’s tempting to imagine it as “fuel” — like lumps of coal burned in the furnace of the body to keep it running. But this view is outdated. In reality, food is not just caloric energy — it’s biological information. Each bite delivers a stream of biochemical signals that guide, regulate, and activate the cellular machinery that keeps us alive. Nowhere is this more evident than in how food interacts with our mitochondria — the energy-producing organelles within our cells.

1. Food Is Information, Not Just Fuel

Food is biochemical data — containing macronutrients (carbs, fats, proteins) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients) that instruct our cells on what to do. These nutrients:

Regulate gene expression
Activate or inhibit enzymatic pathways
Signal hormonal, immune, and neurological responses
Influence epigenetic modifications
Provide substrates for mitochondrial energy production

Think of it like this:

Macronutrients are the building blocks
Micronutrients are the keys and codes
Enzymes and coenzymes are the machinery
Mitochondria are the power plants
And your DNA is the central server that integrates all instructions

2. How Food-Derived Molecules Become Cellular Information

When you eat:

Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose.
Fats become fatty acids.
Proteins become amino acids.

These nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream and delivered to cells. But they don’t just “burn” like fuel — they are interpreted by the cell through enzyme systems, nutrient sensors, and mitochondrial pathways. Importantly, in certain metabolic states — such as therapeutic ketosis — the primary fuel source shifts from glucose to fat-derived ketone bodies, which follow a different energetic and signaling pathway. (We’ll explore this in greater detail below.)

3. Glucose as Information: From Cell Membrane to Mitochondria

Let’s use glucose as the standard model to illustrate how food-derived information is processed:

Uptake:
- Glucose enters cells through GLUT transporters, triggered by insulin — itself a signaling molecule.
Cytoplasmic Processing (Glycolysis):
- In the cytoplasm, glucose undergoes glycolysis, producing:
  - Pyruvate
  - ATP
  - NADH (an electron carrier — i.e., stored energy)
Mitochondrial Entry (Pyruvate to Acetyl-CoA):
- Pyruvate is shuttled into mitochondria and converted to acetyl-CoA by the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC).
- This step requires B-vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5), acting as coenzyme “keys” for enzymatic function.

While this is the default energy pathway, it shifts dramatically in ketosis, where glucose is no longer the dominant fuel, and ketones directly generate acetyl-CoA inside the mitochondria.

4. The Krebs Cycle – Biological Information Processing

Once inside the mitochondrion:

Acetyl-CoA enters the Krebs cycle (TCA cycle), producing:
- NADH and FADH₂ (high-energy electron carriers)
- Carbon dioxide as a waste product
- A small amount of ATP

Every step is mediated by enzymes that require micronutrient-derived cofactors — especially B-vitamins, magnesium, and iron. These nutrients are not just passive players; they are essential information enablers. Without them, the entire cycle grinds to a halt.

5. Electron Transport Chain (ETC) – The Power Grid of the Cell

NADH and FADH₂ deliver electrons to the electron transport chain, located in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Electrons move through a series of complexes (I–IV), pumping protons (H⁺ ions) across the membrane to build a proton gradient.

This gradient powers ATP synthase (Complex V), which synthesizes ATP from ADP + Pi, the universal energy currency of the cell. This system converts the data encoded in food into a usable output — ATP — which drives virtually all cellular activities, from muscle contraction to DNA repair.

6. Micronutrients as Cofactors = Instructional Data

None of this works without micronutrients:

Iron in cytochromes enables electron flow
Copper, selenium, and CoQ10 manage redox balance
Magnesium stabilizes ATP
Zinc and manganese support antioxidant defense systems

These molecules act like software dependencies in a digital system — if they’re missing, the operating system of the cell can’t run properly.

7. Epigenetic and Signaling Effects of Food

Beyond their energetic role, many nutrients act as signaling molecules:

Polyphenols, omega-3s, and ketones activate transcription factors like Nrf2 and PGC-1α
These influence gene expression, reduce inflammation, and promote cellular repair and resilience
This is nutrition as instruction, not just sustenance

The food you eat carries code-like messages that tell your genes how to behave. In this way, your diet can either upgrade or degrade your cellular software over time.

8. Therapeutic Ketosis – A Shift in Cellular Information and Mitochondrial Input

Having examined how glucose feeds the mitochondrial engine under normal conditions, it’s equally important to understand how the body adapts metabolically in different states — especially in therapeutic ketosis. This is not merely a switch in fuel but a profound shift in how food-derived information is processed, distributed, and interpreted by the cell.

In therapeutic ketosis — through fasting or a ketogenic diet — the primary substrate becomes ketone bodies, primarily β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) and acetoacetate, produced in the liver from fatty acids. These molecules bypass glycolysis and enter mitochondria directly as acetyl-CoA, fueling the Krebs cycle efficiently. Ketones also act as powerful epigenetic regulators, reducing oxidative stress, increasing the NAD⁺/NADH ratio, and enhancing mitochondrial biogenesis. Compared to glucose, ketones yield cleaner energy, producing fewer reactive oxygen species (ROS) per ATP. This supports a more resilient, anti-inflammatory, and energy-efficient metabolism, especially valuable in neurological health and chronic disease states. Therapeutic ketosis, therefore, represents not just a dietary change but a metabolic upgrade, optimizing how food-as-information is converted into function, energy, and cellular longevity.

Conclusion: Food is Code — and You Are the Programmer

Far beyond calories and fuel, food is molecular instruction — a vast language of chemical signals that program every aspect of your biology. Through intricate processes within the cell, especially the mitochondria, nutrients are decoded, translated, and transformed into energy, structure, communication, and repair. Whether your body is running on glucose, fat, or ketones, the type and quality of food you consume shape your metabolic pathways, gene expression, and cellular resilience.

Understanding food as information rather than fuel invites a new paradigm in nutrition — one that empowers you to see every meal as a set of instructions you’re giving to your body. The better the input, the smarter and more efficient the system becomes.

You’re not just feeding your body — you’re programming it.