#uncat 

**Carbohydrates** are sugar compounds that plants make when they're exposed to light.

## Types
Carbohydrates come in 3 varieties:
- simple carbohydrates
- complex carbohydrates
- dietary fiber

Simple carbohydrates are relatively small molecules that have only one or two units of sugar, which makes them easy to digest.
A carbohydrate with one unit of sugar is called a *simple sugar* or a *monosaccharide* (e.g. fructose, glucose)
A carbohydrate with two units of sguar is called a *double sugar* or a *disaccharide* (e.g. sucrose)

Complex carbohydrates are also known as *polysaccharides*. Carbs with 3 to 10 units of sugar are sometimes called *oligosaccharides*.
Raffinoise is a trisaccharide (found in potatoes, beans, and beets). Stachyose is a tetrasaccharide found in the same vegetables
Starch is a polysaccharide found in potatoes, past, and rice, and much more.
Complex carbohydrates take more time to be digested.

*Dietary fiber* is a polysaccharide (celullose, hemicellulose, pectin, beta-glucans, and gum).
Some kinds of dietary fiber also contain units of soluble or insoluble uronic acids, compounds derived from the sugars fructose, glucose, and galactose. For example, pectin (a soluble fiber in apples) contains soluble galacturonic acid.
Dietary fiber isn't like other carbohydrates in the sense that the bonds that hold its sugar units together can't be broken by human digestive enzymes. Although the bacteria in your gut convert very small amounts of dietary fiber to fatty acids, it's not considered a source of energy.

### Dietary fiber
*Ruminants* (e.g. cows) can digest insoluble dietary fiber (cellulose and some hemicelluloses), but even these creatures can't digest *lignin*, an insoluble fiber in plant stems and leaves and the predominant fiber in wood.

Dietary fiber is classified as either insoluble or soluble:
- insoluble dietary fiber includes cellulose, some hemicelluloses, and lignin. This kind of dietary fiber is a natural laxative. Absorbs water, helps you feel full after eating, and bulks up stool and makes it softer, reducing your risk of developing hemorrhoids
- soluble dietary fiber includes pectins (found in most fruit), and beta-glucans (found in oats and barley), and gums. Soluble dietary fiber seems to lower the amount of cholesterol circulating in your blood


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Important to increase the amount of dietary fiber very gradually, a little bit more every day
Get enough liquids in the process

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## Use in energy bal2:ance
When you eat carbohydrates, your pancreas secretes insulin, the hormone that enables you to digest starches and sugars. This release of insulin is sometimes called an *insulin spike*.

Eating simple carbs such as sucrose provokes higher insulin secretion than eating complex carbs such as starch.
For most people (except those with diabetes and such diseases), your body can release enough insulin to meet the demand, so a carb is a carb, regardless of how quickly the sugar enters the bloodstream.

The Glycemic Index (GI) was invented in the 1980s as a quick way to gauge the simple carb content by ranking foods according to how quickly the food affected blood sugar levels when compared to glucose.
A second measurement, the Glycemic Load, was developed later in the 1990s as a more accurate measurement.


Glucose can be converted into [[ATP]] in 2 ways: one involving oxygen and one without it. However, the byproduct of anaerobic glucose transformation is **lactic acid**, which makes your muscles ache.


If your diet provides more carbs than you need, it will be stored in the form of glucose and glycogen in your cells, blood, uscles, and liver, the excess will be converted to [[Fat|fat]]. Your body can pack about 100 g of glycogen in the liver and about 400 g of glycogen in the muscle cells..

If you desperately need energy,, your body looks for glucose from carbohydrates first. If none is available, your body begins to pull energy out of fatty tissue and then moves on to burning its own protein tissue (muscles).

## Sources of carbohydrates
The most important sources of carbohydrates are plant foods and grains. Milk and milk products contain lactose, but meat, fish, and poultry have no carbs at all.

It is recommended that 40-60% of yoru daily caloric intake comes from carbohydrate foods, such as grains, fruit, vegetables. Table sugar, honey, and sweets - are recommended only on a once-in-a-while basis.

1 g of carbohydrates has 4 kcal.

## Specific needs of some people
Diabetics can't produce enough insulin, so they need to handle that correctly.

Some people can't digest lactose in milk products so they end up with lactose in their guts, which leads to gas and cramps as a result of that lactose being digested by gut microflora.

Sometimes you need extra carbs, esp. in preparation for physical activity. For example, when you're running a maraphon you may experience "*hitting the wall*" - sudden fatigue caused by the depletion of glycogen storages in the liver and muscle cells. As a remedy, you need to eat enough carbs before a workout.

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