Every two-carbon piece—that acetyl-CoA—goes straight into the Krebs cycle (the next big energy party). Meanwhile, those NADH and FADH2 molecules head to the electron transport chain, where they generate tons of ATP—your body’s energy currency.
For a typical saturated fat like palmitic acid (16 carbons), beta oxidation produces roughly 106 ATP molecules. That’s enough to run a small village of cellular appliances—or, you know, give you the energy to binge-watch one more episode.
Beta Oxidation of Fatty Acid: Steps, Uses, Diagram
