Simple Carbohydrates.
Most of the foods we eat contain large amounts of carbohydrates. Due to the availability of carbohydrates in our food, there is a need to study what we can gain or lose from consuming carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates can also be called sugar. Sugars are broadly classified into simple sugar, and complex carbohydrates.
However, simple carbohydrates would be focused on this page. Simple carbohydrates are monosaccharide. Unlike complex carbohydrates, simple carbohydrates cannot be hydrolyzed into smaller units.
Some simple carbohydrates are “aldoses” while others are “ketoses”. The aldoses have aldehyde as their carbonyl group. The ketoses have ketones as their carbonyl group.
Almost all synthesized monosaccharide have the same stereo chemical configurations. For proper identification, Fischer suggested a projection there was a projection in the tetrahedral carbon of monosaccharide.
Fischer used horizontal lines to represent a tetrahedral carbon.
Horizontal represented bonds going out and the vertical lines represented bonds
coming in.
With the projection identifying each an every monosaccharide is easier.
Simple carbohydrates can be derived from the following; pastry, table
sugar, biscuits, cake, chocolate, to mention a few. Also, when complex
carbohydrates break down, they break into simple sugar.
The digestion of simple sugar is more rapid than that of the complex
carbohydrates. This is because their bonds are more accessible for enzyme to
penetrate. In this connection, they are rapidly absorbed into the system.
On the other hand, if excess is consumed, the following diseases are
possible to occur:
-
Obesity
- Tooth decay, to mention a few.
All other things being equal, carbohydrates still remain the body fuel,
which is necessary for our day-to-day activities.
Adesola Bello
Chemistry 207
