How can amino acids contribute to energy production?

Amino acids can contribute to energy production primarily through the process of deamination. Deamination is the removal of an amino group from an amino acid, which converts it into a carbon skeleton that can then enter various metabolic pathways. Once deaminated, these carbon skeletons can be utilized in the Krebs cycle or converted into intermediary substrates that are involved in cellular respiration. This transformation allows the body to extract energy from amino acids, making them a vital source of fuel, particularly in times of fasting or when carbohydrate intake is insufficient.

While amino acids can potentially be converted into glucose through a process called gluconeogenesis, which ties back to the formation of carbohydrates, deamination is a more direct pathway for utilizing amino acids in energy production. The other options presented—being stored directly as fat and increasing insulin levels—do not directly address how amino acids themselves are used to generate energy in metabolic processes.