What Are Carbohydrates?

What Are Carbohydrates?

What Are Carbohydrates?

We all know what to imagine when we hear the term carbohydrates'. We think of bowls of pasta, we think of potatoes and bread, we think even of vegetables or fruits. All those things fall under the umbrella term of carbs', but don't you ever wonder how that can be? What does a carrot have in common with a bowl of pasta? How are they both considered, and what is it that they share that makes them related? What is the common unifying element that they both possess, and how best can we understand therefore what this broad term really means?

Let's take a look at the name itself: carbohydrate. What that means is that we're talking about organic compounds composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Therefore what all these different food groups have in common are that they are composed primarily of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen compounds, hence carbohydrates.

All carbs serve the same function in our bodies, which is to serve as fuel for our cells and tissues by providing us with glucose. Strictly speaking, however, we do not need carbs to survive; our bodies can adapt to a completely carb free diet by going into a state called ketosis where fat is turned into a glucose substitute.

Further, you can divide carbs into three different groups, each one having in common that fact that they are a form of saccharides. These are monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides. The reason these carbs are all broken down along these lines is because glucose is also known as blood sugar'; in effect all carbs are broken down into their sugar components, allowing our bodies to derive energy from them.

Another way to divide carbs is between starchy' and non-starchy' carbs, which basically lumps all carbs into two groups: there are the starchy carbs that are composed of potatoes, rice, bread, pasta and such, and then on the other hand are all the carbs that you probably didn't like eating as a child, such as vegetables of all stripes. Fruits tend to fall into the starchy' category if only because of their high sugar content.

So there you have it. The unifying factor that connects all carbs are their shared sugar components that allow your body to break them down into glucose. You can think of carbs either in terms of their saccharine properties, or by whether or not they fall in the starchy or non-starchy groups.

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