ALL ABOUT THE CARBOHYDRATES IN FOODS

Ivan Red Jr. Author: Ivan Red Jr. Time for reading: ~6 minutes Last Updated: August 08, 2022
ALL ABOUT THE CARBOHYDRATES IN FOODS

In this article I’ll tell you about what the carbohydrates in the food are and why are they extremely important for your diet.

Carbohydrates make up the main part of your diet. They provide energy for the functioning of the organs in the body and for the normal function of the life processes. In the next lines I’ve gathered information about the most important things for this type of substances.

 

What are carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are chemical compounds which contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. That is why they are called “carbohydrates” (from “carbon” and “hydro” - water). According to their composition they are divided into simple and complex.

 

The simple ones are commonly called “sacchares”.

 

Actually they are monosaccharides and disaccharides.

(1) Monosaccharides are the glucose (grape sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar).

(2) Disaccharides are the sucrose (beet sugar) and lactose (milk sugar).

 

The complex carbohydrates are made up of many monosaccharides (hundreds, even thousands). Polysaccharides are the starch and the celulose.

 

Glucose or grape sugar

After it gets into the digestive system, it is quickly resorbed by the small intestines and gets included in the blood causing a jump in the insulin levels. The glucose is one of the main sources of energy for all cells in the body. It gives off its energy in a series of chemical reactions known as the Krebb’s cycle and glycolysis.

 

Fructose or fruit sugar

It is found in fruits and bee honey. In bioenergetics processes it is included in a similar to the glucose way. But it is more economically favorable some of the intermediate metabolic products to be synthesized directly of fructose, not of glucose, and this is the reason many bodybuilders to include fruits in their morning menu.

The benefit of the fructose over the other simple sugars is the absorption without the need of insulin. A disadvantage is that with her the affinity of the body to create fats out of her molecules is huge.

 

Galactose

It is a part of milk sugar (lactose). It is phosphorylated and goes into the blood faster than all monosaccharides but this valuable benefit in the sports practice remains unused.

 

Sucrose

Or regular sugar is as much a “whip” of the high developed country as it is a useful nutrient. It is one of the many factors for the unaesthetic obesity, the cardiovascular diseases, the teeth caries and many other illnesses. It is made of glucose and fructose which in the digestive tract hydrolyze to separate substances and alcohols are being absorbed. Favored over the regular “white” sugar is the brown unrefined sugar which is now easy to find in the shops for diet foods.

 

Maltose

Isn’t found free in the nature. It is a product of the hydrolytic break down of the starch and the glycogen. It is absorbed in the organism of starch and cereal foods and their products. In the digestive tract it breaks down to glucose.

Lactose or milk sugar

Consists of glucose and galactose. Its main source is the milk – fresh and yogurt. It breaks down hydrolytically in the digestive tract. The starch together with the regular sugar is the main source of carbohydrates in the organism. The most wide-spread polysaccharide. It is consumed mainly in the form of pastry in which its content is 40-50%. Relatively big in volume, the pastry foods fill the stomach and give a feeling of fullness which, together with their peasant taste, makes finding a permanent measure for their consummation hard. We should not forget that besides caloric and interrupting the energy balance, the pastry foods mechanically stretch the abdominal wall and lead to unaesthetic body shape. The starch consists of a huge number of glucose molecules and, when hydrolyzed in the digestive tract, it gradually breaks down to glucose.

 

Glycogen or animal starch

Is contained in the muscles and the liver of living organisms. When consumed, the glycogen does not turn directly back to glycogen but hydrolyzes to glucose which has no privileges about its further metabolisation. And since its amount in the food is minimal in comparison to the amount of other carbohydrates, its involvement in the energy balance is weakly expressed.

 

Cellulose

Is made out of glucose residues. It is hard to digest, weakly absorbed by the human organism...  

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