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BIOMEDICAL IMPORTANCE
Bioenergetics, or biochemical thermodynamics, is the study of the energy changes accompanying biochemical reactions. Biologic systems are essentially isothermic and use chemical energy to power living processes. The way in which an animal obtains suitable fuel from its food to provide this energy is basic to the understanding of normal nutrition and metabolism. Death from starvation occurs when available energy reserves are depleted, and certain forms of malnutrition are associated with energy imbalance (marasmus). Thyroid hormones control the metabolic rate (rate of energy release), and disease results if they malfunction. Excess storage of surplus energy causes obesity, an increasingly common disease of Western society which predisposes to many diseases, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus type 2, and lowers life expectancy
