Cellular Respiration: A High Protein Diet

Cellular respiration is the process of breaking down chemical energy, most commonly glucose and oxygen, for use in the body as ATP with the release of water and carbon dioxide as bi-products (Mauseth, 2014). This process can be observed by careful analysis of the metabolic rate which is the total amount of energy released by an organism per unit mass. The respiratory quotient (R.Q) is the ratio of CO2 molecules lost per O2 molecules consumed which can be used to determine the efficiency of the metabolic rate and can be calculated as follows;

The R.Q can also help in determining the type of diet an organism is on. For example, a diet high in fat would result in a low R.Q due to the greater amount of O2 molecules required to metabolize that fat for ATP. On the contrary, a high protein diet would result in a larger R.Q due to a fewer amount of O2 molecules required to metabolize that protein for ATP.
In a study performed by Renault et al. (2003) it was found that starvation resulted in a significant decrease in metabolic rate in the pest beetle Alphitobius diaperinus whereas the
They measure roughly 23 mm in length and have a short life cycle of about 2 to 3 months (Mason, 1998). Given the association between metabolic rate, respiratory quotient, and nutrition the current study was performed to determine the effect of diet on the metabolic rate and respiratory quotient on the mealworm. To assess this effect, the mealworms were divided into three distinct groups; Group 1 was fed a regular diet of wheat bran and oatmeal, group 2 was only fed water (starved) while group 3 was fed a high protein diet. It is predicted that group 1 would have an R.Q value close to 1.0, group 2 would have an R.Q less than 1.0 and finally group 3 would have an R.Q value slightly greater than