What is the difference between Catabolism and Anabolism?

Catabolism and Anabolism are two types of metabolic processes that occur in the living cells. Metabolism is the overall or complete set of chemical reactions that occur in living cells. Catabolic processes are characterized with the destruction or breaking down of complex substances into simpler ones. These processes usually result in the release of energy in the form of ATP.

Anabolic processes, on the other hand, are characterized by the building up of complex substances from simple ones, but there's no release of energy. Instead, they use the available energy to perform the chemical processes. So, while catabolic processes are releasing energy in the form of ATP, anabolic processes make use of the available ATP energy to facilitate the chemical reactions.

Also, complex substances that are built up by Anabolism are broken down by the catabolic process. The set of hormones that are in operation during Anabolism are Growth hormone, Insulin, Estrogen, Testosterone, while the ones for catabolism are Glucagon, Cytokines, Cortisol and Adrenaline.