Carbohydrates In The Body

Describe the body’s mechanisms for controlling blood glucose levels under normal and stress conditions. Glucose is the primary source of energy for nearly all of the body’s cells. Regulated by hormones in the body, glucose can be used immediately or stored for later, ensuring the body has sufficient energy to function properly. Glucose can also be called upon in emergency situations to fuel the body’s cells when quick action is needed. The primary role of carbohydrates in the body is to provide cells with glucose for energy.

Carbohydrates are compounds composed of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen arranged as monosaccharides (single sugars) or multiples of monosaccharides. The three most important monosaccharides in nutrition are glucose, fructose,

List food sources of these fibers. Contrast the physical characteristics and features of these two types of fiber and their effects on gastrointestinal tract function. Dietary fibers are the structural parts of plants found in all plant derived foods, for example vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes. Most dietary fibers are polysaccharides. Dietary fibers are often referred to as nonstarch polysaccharides because the bonds between their monosaccharides cannot be broken down by digestive enzymes. Because dietary fibers pass through the body undigested, they contribute little or no energy to the body. However, dietary fibers do play a major role in digestion. Even though most foods contain a variety of fibers, dietary fibers are broken down into two groups according to solubility. The first group of fibers are those that dissolve in water or soluble fibers, these fibers form gels (viscous), and are easily digested by bacteria in the colon or fermentable. Soluble fibers include: pectins, any of various water-soluble substances that bind adjacent cell walls in plant tissues and yield a gel which is the basis of fruit jellies, gums, any of numerous colloidal polysaccharide substances of plant origin that are gelatinous when moist but harden on drying and are salts of complex organic acids, mucilages, a gelatinous substance of various plants such as legumes or seaweeds that contains protein and polysaccharides and is similar to plant gums, and some hemicelluloses, any of various plant polysaccharides less complex than cellulose and easily hydrolysable to monosaccharides and other products