Despite the fact that we have often heard that carbohydrates are enemies of a good diet, you should know that they are very important for you to enjoy good health, apart from the fact that they also offer you a large number of nutritional benefits.
Carbohydrates are one of the main sources of energy for the body since they are responsible for generating glucose, which is also a necessary component to help the brain to be constantly active to carry out all the activities in your daily routine. But in addition to that, they are responsible for producing serotonin, this being a compound that helps improve mood.
These carbohydrates can be found in fruits, legumes and vegetables, so when consuming them the body receives a high fiber content which, as many know, is very helpful for regular intestinal transit and we can go to the bathroom well. which in the end also has a powerful impact on our weight.
Above all, among the most important benefits that carbohydrates have to offer you is their large amount of vitamins and minerals that are so essential for good health.
It is indistinct to talk about carbohydrates or carbohydrates, since to understand what carbohydrates are about, the first thing you need is to keep in mind that the concept of this term is made up of the word carbon and also the word hydrate. So, in general, it can be said that carbohydrates are simply carbohydrates.
They are also known by other names, such as carbohydrates, saccharides or sugars, although some of these names are much better known than others within the terms of food. They may not be the most accurate either as they do not refer to carbohydrates at all, however multiple attempts have been made to replace them with other terms more precisely but have not been successful.
All about carbs
- Carbohydrates or carbohydrates are molecules that are made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, but only oxygen is present in a much smaller quantity than the other two elements. The main function that these compounds play is to help store and produce the energy necessary for the organism of any living being. This is a process that occurs when an enzyme called amylase is responsible for the breakdown of glucose (also called sugar) present in the blood, thus allowing the body to use that energy to function properly.
- Carbohydrates can be divided into four types taking into account the chemical structure that each one has.
- The simplest structures are monosaccharides and that is because they only have one molecule. These are the ones that truly belong to the formation of the fuel that our system needs, but they are also found within a series of metabolic processes that are responsible for the formation of cell components. There are even monosaccharides such as deoxyribose or ribose that are found within the composition of DNA. At the moment that monosaccharides are not required within the functions of the organism, they take a different form as in the case of polysaccharides.
- Disaccharides are composed of two molecules that are hydrolyzed and, thanks to this, can become free monosaccharide molecules. The disaccharide carbohydrates that are commonly known are sucrose (it is present in a greater quantity, which also helps to transport the carbohydrates that various plant organisms have), maltose (it is a compound that is produced when starch is hydrolyzed), cellobiose (obtained when cellulose is hydrolyzed) and lactose, which is also known as the sugar that comes from milk.
- Oligosaccharides have a variable structure, since in their composition we can find between three and nine molecules coupled by links that are released once the hydrolysis of the carbohydrate occurs. There are several cases where oligosaccharides can be attached to proteins, resulting in a compound called glycoproteins.
- Finally, there are the polysaccharides, which are those carbohydrates that are made up of more than ten molecules and whose main function is to perform storage or structure tasks. Among the polysaccharides that we are normally familiar with are cellulose, starch, chitin, amylose, and glycogen.
Tips
Despite the fact that the function that carbohydrates perform is at the energy level, there are some that fulfill various functions that are linked to the structure of the cells of a living being or also to its organs, especially when referring to the polysaccharides.
This type of carbohydrates constitute skeletal structures that have a lot of resistance that, in turn, belong to the formation of biomolecules as in the case of fats, nucleic acids and proteins. Due to their resistance, there is the possibility that they are synthesized outside the body and that they are used to make a wide variety of plastics, fabrics and many other products that are of artificial origin.
As far as nutrition issues are concerned, carbohydrates can be differentiated into two types that may well be simple or complex, if their structure, their speed and the procedure by which glucose is digested and absorbed by the body are taken into account body.
Therefore, simple carbohydrates are those found in foods that have a component called fructose (as in the case of fruits) and in foods that come from dairy products. And on the other hand, complex carbohydrates are those found within the composition of lactose, maltose (which can be found in some vegetables or also in beer, where the cereal that comes from it is used to manufacture it. malt) and within sucrose (it is a compound present in the composition of sugar).
Fruits, vegetables, milk as well as any of its derivatives, all products that contain sugar and all those products that are refined (these also generate calories, which compared to the other products mentioned do not offer the same amount of vitamins, fiber and minerals that an organism needs to have an excellent state of health), such as flour or rice, contain large amounts of simple carbohydrates. And complex carbohydrates can be found in large quantities within the composition of vegetables that have a high starch content, in the composition of legumes, in some of the ingredients that are used to make bread and are also found in the composition of any other product that contains whole grains.
The most important advice we can give you is to feed yourself by introducing all kinds of nutrients into your diet, including simple and complex carbohydrates, because despite their bad reputation for some weight loss diets, these are also important.