CARBOHYDRATES

• Carbohydrates are nutrients that are made up of carbon, hydrogens, and oxygen, and are essential for the body to obtain energy.
• These are the classification for carbohydrates:

  1. Monosaccharides
  2. Disaccharides
  3. Polysaccharides
• Monosaccharides sugars - also called simple sugars, these contain one base sugar unit, is also called dextrose or blood sugar. It is the major carbohydrates found in plants and animals.
• Glucose has many isomers, Fructose, Galactose, Beta-Glucose, and Alpha-Glucose.
• Glucose is represented by a cyclic structure with the molecular formula C6H12O6. The different structural formulas previously illustrated actually distinguish the isomers of glucose.
• Glucose units are combined into the beta linkage into long continuous chains.
• Galactose is an important sugar in nutrition, while fructose or fruit sugar is common in all these isomers with the base formula C6H12O6.
• Table sugar or sucrose (Disaccharides) - Disaccharides form through a condensation reaction, which involves eliminating a water molecule form the functional groups.
• Sucrose is formed by linking the monosaccharides sugars glucose and fructose.
• Lactose, the sugar found in milk of mammals, and maltose. From the reaction of malt on starch and isomers of sucrose.