The drink of the gods

The drink of the gods

curbs oxidative stress through

clever conversions

 

The energetic demands of flying causes muscular oxidative damage. Whilst some foods have antioxidants, nectar doesn’t – a potential issue for flying nectar-feeding animals. To get around this issue hawkmoths appear to be able to “generate antioxidant potential by shunting nectar glucose to the pentose phosphate pathway”. Levin et al, 2017.

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