Citric Acid Cycle, Question For Experts

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Feb 26, 2018
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Okay, this is going to come off as very crude so please excuse me as I am not a scientist by any means, my background is computer programming. Obviously I know the human body cannot derive that much energy value from citric acid compared to glucose, but I would like to know what value extracellular citrate and acetate has in relation to the krebs cycle, and potential ways to enhance it's efficacy.

Following is a list of my assumptions and unknowns. I know this will likely come off as laughable to anyone who is an expert, but I genuinely would like to know more!

1. Citric acid has 2.5 calories per gram. From what I have read, these calories are at the very least utilized somewhat by the liver:
Human Na+ -coupled citrate transporter: primary structure, genomic organization, and transport... - Abstract - Europe PMC
2. Dietary citric acid to some degree enters the bloodstream. What is the limiting factor here, bicarbonate producton in small intestine?
3. Clearly too much citrate in the blood would kill a person. Would slowly drinking citrate or sodium citrate throughout the day provide any significant boost to the krebs cycle?
3. From the bloodstream, extracellular citrate can enter the cytosol via the plasma membrane citrate transporter.
4. Once citrate has entered the cytosol, can it be used directly for energy in the krebs cycle?
5. Is there such a thing as a potential citrate reserve in the cytosol? Meaning, can the cytosol be perceived as 'deficient in citrate'? Or does all cellular citrate get used up / not stored for a rainy day simply by floating free in the cytosol...
6. Why is citrate not more readily used for energy? It seems like in terms of efficiency, being able to use citrate as fuel would have a lot of advantages to the energy burden of processing fat/carb/protein ultimately in to citrate....
7. On a similar note, how can other dietary acids e.g. malate or acetate potentially be used to optimize the krebs cycle?

I have always felt a little boost in my stamina from drinking ample lemon juice or vinegar. I always racked it up to balancing my ph, and helping digestion, and working as a weak antiseptic. But now I am really starting to ask, is the positive effect I feel also because of cellular metabolic pathway(s) which are strengthened by dietary acid?

Are there any easy to digest books or articles you could refer me to on this subject?

For the sake of conversation let's just say we are dealing with 100% pure uncontaminated citric acid. I am not here to argue that taking straight citric acid made from gmo corn mold would be safe.

I sat and read all of this a few weeks ago and it piqued my interest, despite it sounding somewhat pseudo-sciencey, it is all about vinegar and the krebs cycle. Vinegar for Long Life
The author has lived past 100 and loves vinegar haha.

"The oxaloacetic acid plays the most important role for a smooth work of this cycle. It would be the most desirable if we could supply the cycle this acid for its good work. But this acid cannot be used as medicine for that purpose because it is oxidized easily. Some substitutes for it can be chosen to act as the medicine of fatigue. These are the seven acids which work in the citric acid cycle with the oxaloacetic acid, asparagine, and glutamic acid from which those seven acids are composed, and acetic acid, which is the original form of fatty acids.

Acetic acid can eliminate fatigue, because it is changed to citric acid by combining with oxaloacetic acid with the help of CoEnzyme A and ATP (adensosine triphosphate)."
 
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Captain_Coconut
Joined
Feb 26, 2018
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988
:bump2 and please excuse my typos, too late to edit.
 
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Yes, i would like to hear from Members that have knowledge about
Citric Acid Augmentation.
Does it get converted to Bicarbonate endogenously?
 

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