It's no secret that any, even the mostgastronomically sophisticated and exotic food can be decomposed into constituent elements, the common name of which are macronutrients. The list of them is very short and well-known:
- proteins;
- fats;
- carbohydrates.
In addition, each product in different proportionscontains 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 composition of macronutrients, affects human well-being in different ways. The thing is that each "brick" has its own function and serves different purposes. In this article, carbohydrates and their functions will be examined in more detail.
Often, products with high energyvalue is associated with calories. Recently, it is fashionable to exclude hydrocarbon 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 -energy. As a kind of battery for the body, carbohydrates help to support vital functions, due to the energy from their splitting, all body systems work. 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, the splitting of long chains of monosaccharide derivatives consumes much less energy, 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 found 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 ofseveral thousand monosaccharide residues, that is, have a long and branching chain of simpler carbohydrates. The most famous representatives of this group are pectin, cellulose, starch and glycogen. Carbohydrates of this group are not absorbed by the body in their original form. Splitting them into simple and easily digestible forms requires a significant expenditure of energy. Some species (fiber) are not digested at all. It helps to use them as a stimulator of the activity of the gastrointestinal tract and its purification from slags. In addition, glycogen, for example, is a building material for the body (liver, muscle).
After we figured out what carbohydrates are,it makes sense to return to the question of their usefulness for the organism. Obviously, their complex forms are useful and even necessary for the proper functioning of the body due to the fact that they perform a building and nutritional function.
В силу того, что полисахариды расщепляются с large energy consumption and absorbed more slowly, they are practically not deposited in the form of fat, because simply do not have time. Monosaccharides, on the contrary, digesting much faster and entering directly into the blood, cause the so-called "carbohydrate jump", that is, dramatically increase energy. And their excessive consumption, in the absence of high energy consumption, leads to the processing of carbohydrates and their accumulation in the form of fat.
What carbohydrates are, you need to know forbuilding proper nutrition. The use of complex and simple forms is obligatory for the organism, otherwise processes (including mental ones) slow down, lethargy and apathy occur.
