Types of carbohydrates
Monosaccharides and disaccharides are all known as simple carbohydrates, while polysaccharides are the complex carbohydrates. Monosaccharides have a central carbon atom, which is usually bonded to two hydrogen atoms and a single oxygen atom as expressed as (CH2O)N. The three main monosaccharides are glucose, fructose, and galactose. On the other hand, disaccharides are also known as double sugars, which are usually made up of a mixture of different monosaccharides and other simple sugars. For example, the three disaccharides are lactose, which is made of galactose and glucose, maltose, which is a combination of two sugar units and sucrose, which is a combination of fructose and glucose. These sugars can be found in fruits, vegetables, and grains.
As I mentioned earlier, polysaccharides are complex carbohydrates that are made of many many chains of monosaccharides. The three most essential polysaccharides are glycogen, starch, and fibers. Starch and glucose are similar in the sense that they are both made up of glucose, and the main difference is while glucose is found in the human body starch if found in plants. On the other hand, fibers differ from other polysaccharides because the monosaccharide bonds in fibers cannot be broken down by human enzymes.
Blood glucose is an essential monosaccharide in the body. Glucose balance in the body is maintained by insulin and glucagon. When glucose level rises, insulin usually contracts hence enabling body cells to absorb more glucose into the body. When the glucose falls, glucagon is is secreted by the pancreatic walls, which signals the liver to breakdown the glucagon storages and turns it into glucose, which is secreted in the bloodstream. Fibers and starches can have health risks to human beings if taken over the recorded intakes. Some of the health effects are causing diseases like heart diseases, diabetes, and cancer. As a result, concentrated sugars must be taken according to the recommended intake, which is not more than 25% of the day’s total energy.
Vitamins are also an essential aspect of the human diet. There are two types, water-soluble vitamins and fat-soluble. These two differ because water-soluble vitamins are easily absorbed in the body, and any excess is excreted out. In contrast, fat-soluble vitamins require bile acid to be absorbed, and the residue of it is stored in the body and primarily in the liver. Since water-soluble vitamins can be easily denatured during food processing, in order to retain them, one should use less heat when cooking and also store in places that have less lighting. Various proteins play different roles in the body; for example, vitamin B1, B2, B3, B6 are essential for energy metabolism, vitamin B12 is necessary for protein metabolism, and vitamin B9 is responsible for cell division.
Apart from vitamin B, vitamin C is also essential in the body. The sailors were called scurvy because they lacked adequate vitamin C in their bodies. Hence some of the symptoms that they had were general body weaknesses and sore arms and legs as well as swollen gum.