Chapter 3: Carbohydrates

What are macronutrients?

Proteins, carbohydrates, and fats

Why are macronutrients important in human diet?

Its the source of energy for work and growth

Fiber is another name for?

Indigestible carbohydrates

What is the purpose of indigestible carbohydrates?

To function maintaining the gastrointestinal health

What are two forms of digestible carbohydrates?

Sugars and starch

How sugars and starch created?

When plants use carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water with plant pigment chlorophyll as a chemical catalyst

Cereal, grains, fruits, vegetables, and dairy are all what ?

Carbohydrates

Why are carbohydrates used by many people worldwide?

Because its accessible, low in cost, has an extremely long shelf life, and you don’t have to refrigerate most of them.

How are carbohydrates classified?

By the number of basic sugar or saccharide units that make up its structure.

Monosaccharides and disaccharides are referred to as?

Simple carbohydrates because of their small size and structure

Polysaccharides, including starch and certain fibers are referred to as?

Complex carbohydrates because of their larger size and more complicated structure.

What are the three monosaccharides that are important to human nutrition?

Glucose, fructose, and galactose

What is carbohydrate made up of?

Oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. And also includes sugars, starches and dietary fibers.

A moderately sweet sugar that is naturally found in few foods, such as corn syrup

Glucose

How is glucose supplied to the body?

Through the digestion of starch and conversion of simple sugars

What is glucose also referred to as?

Dextrose

Glucose is the form in which

Carbohydrates circulate in the blood

The sweetest of the simple sugars, found in fruits and honey

Fructose

The sweetener found in many soft drinks, fruit drinks, commercial baked products, and dessert mixes.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS)

A natural sweetener that contains no vitamins or minerals

Honey

Why shouldn’t a baby younger than 1 year old be given honey?

May have small amounts of bacteria spores that produce botulism, a form of food poisioning that could be fatal.

Simple sugar never found in food but is released during digestion of lactose (milk sugar) and then converted to glucose in the liver

Galactose

Double sugars that are made up of two monosaccharides

Disaccharides

What three disaccharides are important for human nutrition?

Sucrose, lactose, and maltose

One glucose + one fructose =

Sucrose

One glucose + one galactose =

Lactose

One glucose + one glucose =

Maltose

Common table sugar that’s commercially made from sugar cane and sugar beets, but is naturally found in molasses, fruits, and vegetables

Sucrose

What is sucrose commonly added to

Processed foods

Sugar, that’s found in milk, and is the least sweet of the disacchardes

Lactose

Why are lactose intolerant people are able to digest cheese

Because the lactose from the milk is drained and separated from the curd which is then processed into cheese.

Occurs naturally in very few foods but is formed in the body as an intermediate product in starch digestion

Maltose

Where is Maltose found?

Commerical malt products and germinating cereal grains

Sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol that are found in nature and used in food processing are called?

Sugar alcohols

Processed food in which sugar alcohol replaces sucrose makes the food become

Sugar free

What processed food can you fine sugar alcohol in?

• Candy

• Frozen desserts

• Baked goods advertised as artificial sweetened or lower in kcalories.

What are the benefits of sugar alcohol?

• Helps avoid cavities

• Good for those who have diabetes and want something sweet.

Why is sugar alcohol not good for our nutrition?

Can cause abdominal distress or have a laxative effect. You should take sugar alcohol in moderation.

Starch, glycogen, and dextrin are all

Digestible polysaccharides

What is a nondigestible polysaccharide?

Cellulose

What’s the function of cellulose?

Add an important bulk to the diet and categorized as dietary fiber

Cooking not only improves flavor of starch but also

Softens and ruptures the starch cells making digestion easier

Potato’s, whole grains, bananas, and legumes are all part of

Resistant starch

What is resistant starch?

Starch that is not easily digestible, instead food leaves digestion and enters colon intact.

Why is resistant starch important for our health?

Produces butyric acid that helps protect against colon disease, such as colon cancer.

Glycogen is the storage form of carbohydrate in

Animals

Starch is the storage form of carbohydrate in

Plants

Produced in liver cells and stored in small amounts in liver and muscle

Glycogen

Helps sustain normal blood glucose levels during fasting periods such as sleep hours

Liver glycogen

Provides immediate fuel for muscle for muscle action

Muscle glycogen

Small fragments of digest starch, ranging in size from 3 to 10 glucose units

Oligosaccharides

What is the function of oligosaccharides?

Used for infants or those with GI problems since its easy to digest, also found in soft drinks.

Naturally occurring oligosaccharides are formed with bonds that cannot be broken by human enzymes, therefore remain undigested two of these are

stachyose and raffinose

Vegetables, legumes, fruits, and grains supply

Important nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and fiber

Calcium, magnesium, and protein are sources from

Dairy products

Loss of nutrients in the bran and germ of whole grains occurs due to

Refined grains removing these components.