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Respiratory quotient (RQ) or respiratoryratio can be defined as the ratio of the volume of CO2 evolvedto the volume of O2 consumed during respiration. The value ofrespiratory quotient depends on the type of respiratory substrate. Its value isone for carbohydrates. However, it is always less than one for fats as fatsconsume more oxygen for respiration than carbohydrates.
It can be illustrated through the example of tripalmitinfatty acid, which consumes 145 molecules of O2 forrespiration while 102 molecules of CO2 areevolved. The RQ value for tripalmitin is 0.7.