Carbohydrates Essay

Improved Essays
Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for living beings; its consumption is vital to our existence. The Carbohydrates play various roles in our body; the main ones are the nutrition and energy supply. The body will use every trick to keep the fed cells, as the glucose supply cannot stop. Foods rich in carbohydrates, such as breads, cereals, rice and pasta, are an important form of energy for the body and, therefore, are very important to a healthy diet. However, when consumed in excess, carbohydrates increase the amount of body fat, because excess carbohydrate is stored in the body as fat, thus, it is important not to overdo the intake of such foods.
Carbohydrates can be classified into three groups: monosaccharide, disaccharides and polysaccharides. Monosaccharide is simple sugars, and its main representatives are glucose (manufactured by plants during photosynthesis), fructose (found in honey) and lactose (found in milk). The union of two monosaccharaides forms disaccharides, and his best-known representatives are sucrose and lactose. Sucrose consists of a glucose molecule and a fructose molecule. Sucrose is the sugar we consume at home, which we use in our coffee, juices, pastries etc. This carbohydrate can be found mainly in the sugarcane and sugar beets. Lactose formed by one molecule of glucose and one lactose molecule. It is the sugar
…show more content…
In order to have energy our body transform carbs into sugar and when consumed in excess, they are processed into sugar in the blood stream, which is stored as fat if unused; besides the consumption of an elevate amount of carbs make you become overweight because it is super caloric, it also increases the chances of diabetes because of the irregularity of the blood sugar (Morgan, Rachel 2013.) Thus moderation is the key to have a balanced diet and a healthy

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Low Carbohydrate Diets

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Introduction Carbohydrates are essential to the human diet, but sometimes people want to lose weight, so they start a low-carbohydrate diet. A low-carbohydrate diet is a diet that is defined as limiting a number of carbohydrates that a person can ingest. While some people find carbohydrates to be the source of weight gain, they actually keep the human body functioning properly. A low- carbohydrate diet is a great way to lose weight and provide the body with energy, but it is important to know the difference between processed sugars and natural sugars and what they are composed of.…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Diabetes is a medical disorder that affects the way the body uses food for the growth and energy. (Diabetes: Taking charge of your health) In America, more than 20 million people have diabetes. (American Medical Association, 1) There are two types of diabetes—type 1 and type 2. The type 1 diabetes generally occurs at age 8 to 18, and mostly occurs with genetic.…

    • 1597 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Pros And Cons Of HFCS

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Increased Body Weight The "con" side will make a case that HFCS has not contributed to the increased body weight of Americans. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) has become a hot topic between most Americans in today’s society. High Fructose Corn Syrup is in a category of what we consider to be our carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are our body's major source of fuel.…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Macromolecules In Biology

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Carbohydrates are commonly called sugars and provide the major source of fuel to power the animal body, especially the nervous system. This type of carbohydrate contains one or two sugar units bonded together.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Monosaccharides are glucose and fructose, while disaccharides are sucrose and lactose. These function to store energy in the body. Macromolecules…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Issues with the “Western Diet” In “Escape for the Western Diet” by Michael Pollan, he discusses how our current diet is partly to blame for our obesity and increases in disease as a nation. He looks at multiple different theories that a large number of diseases affect those who eat the Western diet yet disagrees with many points that the theories say. Pollan also argues that, due to the fact we as a whole are taking less time to prepare our meals, the quality of said meals decreases. One of Pollan’s points is to eat smaller portions of food, and in the food that we do eat it should contain a majority of fruits and vegetables with a minimal intake of meat.…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Scientifically, sugar appears in human diets in two main forms: glucose and fructose. Glucose, the body’s preferred source of energy, is most typically found in starches and grains. When carbohydrates like potatoes or bread are consumed they are transformed into glucose, also known as blood sugar. As carbohydrates are digested, the blood sugar levels rise. Blood sugar levels then trigger insulin to release from the pancreas into the bloodstream, which helps the glucose disperse throughout the body.…

    • 1807 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Elizabeth Barron Winters July 9th, 2017 Case study 1 Atkins or Fadkins Part 1: Macronutrients and energy Question 1: Proteins: do most of the work in the cells, required for structure, function, and regulation of the bodys tissues and organs. They also transport nutrients and are catalyst. Examples of proteins are nuts, meats, and beans. Carbohydrates: source of energy for the body, simple and complex carbs. Examples are fruits, pasta, sugar, and, grain.…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Where are the greatest deficiencies in your diet, as indicated by the choosemyplate.gov analysis? What can be done to improve these areas? The greatest consistent deficiency in my diet was protein. Throughout all three days I was under the target amount.…

    • 1393 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A low carb diet refers to a diet that has a limited content of carbohydrates and is high in proteins and fat. There are many kinds of low carb diets that exist. Since carbohydrates are the integral source of calories, low carbs are known to work great for weight loss; in fact, they work beyond weight loss, such as reducing risk from factors like diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Elaborating further, carbohydrates that are consumed by a human body can be segregated into: naturally occurring carbohydrates, and refined/simple carbohydrates. The natural carbs can be found in vegetables, grains, milk, nuts, seeds, fruits and legumes; whereas the refined carbs are present in foods such as white breads, pasta, cookies, cake, sodas and drinks, to name a few.…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Carbs Research Paper

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Cells in the human body require many compounds to survive. The main substances found in all living organisms are a mix of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. Each of these substances has a different niche as a part of the body, and all of them must either come from the diet or be created using other chemicals in the body. Functions of Carbs Carbohydrates are the preferred source of energy for most of the tissues in the body, including the nervous system and the heart. Carbohydrates from the diet are converted into glucose, which can either be immediately used as a source of energy or stored in the form of glycogen.…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Without disease, we would not be as evolved as we are today. Throughout evolution’s progress, humankind have encountered many devastating or life-altering diseases. In 2007, Dr. Sharon Moalem published Survival of the Sickest in which he explored the theory that certain diseases actually helped us as a species in the long run. Using eight case studies, Dr. Moalem set forth the benefits of disease and their contribution to new medical research. Three of these case studies are selected here: diabetes, hemochromatosis and progeria.…

    • 1922 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Over the past 20 years, there has been a large increase of obesity rates in America. There have been multiple studies connecting this increase in childhood obesity to the overconsumption of sugar sweetened beverages. HFCS, otherwise known as High Fructose Corn Syrup, and sucrose, otherwise known as raw sugar or table sugar, are what has scientists and dieticians worried about the increase of childhood obesity rates in the U.S,. These sugars come from near the equator, and also all over the tropical world. Both HFCS and sucrose are made of glucose and fructose molecules, which they both have in roughly equal amounts.…

    • 1469 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The low carb diet for weight loss is used by many people to maintain their ideal weight. It is a fact verified through high-quality research studies that low carb diets work. There are claims that low carb dieters lose 2-3 times more weight than people who are on low-fat diets. Low carb diets are not only excellent at reducing weight, but they also help to control various lifestyle diseases. People on this diet experience a reduction in blood pressure and a regulation of blood sugar levels.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Sugar Body Blame

    • 1525 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Should sugar take the whole blame? Obesity and diet related disorders has been a popular topic amongst the scientific community to address. Nonetheless, in trying to depict the causes of such diseases, social media tried to claim that sugar consumption as sole culpability for this Obesity epidemic (abc.net/2014-02-09) In reference to the research written by Tom Gill, this document discusses why sugar should not take the whole blame. Throughout this document will firstly discuss the impact of Food consumption in our daily lives, Healthy Diet, then addressing other significant factors of obesity such as Genetics, Psychological and Psychical influences.…

    • 1525 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays