What are carbohydrates?

It's no secret that any, even the most gastronomically sophisticated and exotic food can be decomposed into constituent elements, the common name of which are macronutrients. Their list is very short and well-known:

• Proteins;
• Fats;
• Carbohydrates.

In addition, each product in different proportions contains water, vitamins and trace elements. It is in this disassembled form that the food is absorbed by the body. Each meal, depending on the percentage of macronutrients, affects human well-being in different ways. The thing is that every "brick" has its own function and serves different purposes. In this article, carbohydrates and their functions will be examined in more detail.

Often, foods with high energy value are associated with calories. Recently, it is fashionable to exclude hydrocarbon-containing products from the diet, since it is believed that this reduces the intake of calories. The truth in this approach, of course, is. Especially if you are a professional athlete. However, about everything in order.

So, what is carbohydrates?

The main function of these macronutrients is energy. As a kind of battery for the body, carbohydrates help to maintain life, at the expense of energy from their splitting the work of all body systems is carried out. It is known that the cleavage of 1 g of carbohydrates gives the body 4 kcal. The same amount enters the body and the splitting of 1 g of fat. However, much less energy is spent on the cleavage of long chains of monosaccharide derivatives, which makes it easier for the body to "burn" 1 g of carbohydrates than 1 g of fats from the stock.

Carbohydrates, depending on the molecular structure or, more simply, the length of the molecular chain, are divided into simple and complex.

What are carbohydrates simple?

Science knows two of their kind: monosaccharides and disaccharides. Among monosaccharides, the most common and occurring in a free form in nature are glucose and fructose. They are contained in freshly squeezed juices, fruits. A chain of monosaccharides, as one can judge from the name, is the simplest, which facilitates their rapid assimilation by the body. The formula of disaccharides (sucrose, maltose, lactose) is a chain of residues from several monosaccharides. Disaccharides are found in dairy products (lactose), sugar cane (sucrose) and in some cereal (maltose).

What are complex carbohydrates?

Their other name is polysaccharides, they consist of several thousand monosaccharide residues, that is, they have a long and branched chain of simpler carbohydrates. The most famous representatives of this group are pectin, cellulose, starch and glycogen. Carbohydrates of this group in the original form of the body are not digested. Splitting them up to simple and easily digestible forms requires considerable energy expenditure. Some types (fiber) are not digested at all. This helps to use them as a stimulant of the activity of the gastrointestinal tract and its purification from toxins. In addition, glycogen, for example, is a building material for the body (liver, muscles).

After we found out what carbohydrates are, it makes sense to return to the question of their usefulness for the body. Obviously, their complex forms are useful and even necessary for the proper functioning of the body due to the fact that they perform construction and nutritional functions.

Due to the fact that polysaccharides split with a large energy consumption and are absorbed more slowly, they are practically not deposited in the form of fat, tk. Simply do not have time. Monosaccharides, on the contrary, assimilating much faster and entering the bloodstream, cause a so-called "carbohydrate jump", that is, sharply increase energy. And their excessive use, in the absence of high energy inputs, leads to the processing of carbohydrates and their accumulation in the form of fat.

About what carbohydrates are, you need to know to build the right food. The use of complex and simple forms is necessary for the organism, otherwise processes (including mental ones) slow down, lethargy and apathy begin.