Carbohydrates, an outline:

1. What are carbs?

a. Scientifically
b. Types of carbs
2. What do carbs do?

3. Pros of eating carbs and cons of too much intake

a. Ailments relating to carbs
4. How much carbs you should have in your diet
Ok next page is the actual research
What are Carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates (also known as saccharides) are biomolecules, that is to say, molecules and
ions present in and essential to living organisms. Other types of biomolecules include
carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins.

Carbohydrates are made of only 3 elements, carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They are also
referred to as sugars. Some kinds of carbs/sugars are:

Monosaccharides

The smallest possible unit of sugar and building blocks of all other carbohydrates. Examples are
glucose, galactose or fructose.

Disaccharides

Disaccharides are two monosaccharide molecules bonded together, for example, lactose,
maltose, and sucrose.

Polysaccharides

Different polysaccharides act as food stores in plants and animals. They also play a structural
role in the plant cell wall and the tough outer skeleton of insects.

Polysaccharides are a chain of two or more monosaccharides.

The chain may be:

branched, so that the molecule looks like a tree with branches and twigs
unbranched, where the molecule is a straight line Some
examples are:
Glycogen- storage for animals and humans
Starches, which are made of amylose and amylopectin are found grains, potatoes, etc.
 Starch is not water soluble and is dissolved using amylase.
Uses of Carbohydrates

All life on Earth requires carbohydrates.They are used for nourishment not only by animals, but
also by virtually all other forms of multicellular organisms and some single-cell organisms.

The most important role of carbohydrates, specifically speaking, is a source of energy. How
does the body get energy from sugar, you may ask? Here’s how.
1. You begin to digest carbohydrates as you chew and moisten food as its chewed.
2. The food goes from your esophagus to your stomach, now called chyme as it passes
through
3. The chyme goes to the stomach, gets dissolved by the acid, then proceeds to the small
intestines. This causes the pancreas to release amylase, breaking down more complex
sugars like starch into dextrin and maltose.
4. The wall of the small intestine produces lactase, sucrase, and maltase, which finally
break down the aforementioned sugars into monosaccharides like glucose.
5. .These sugars are finally absorbed into the small intestine and are finally stored into the
liver. Anything that’s left out is excreted out of the colon.

Without carbohydrates in the body such as glucose, we would not have energy.

Carbohydrates also have a purpose in the form of stored energy for later use. Stored Glucose is
converted into glycogen and is primarily found in the liver and muscle. If we didn’t have the
stored energy, our prehistoric ancestors would not have had energy to use for the fight or flight
response.
On a related note, carbs can indirectly benefit muscle health. Our body can, if it has to break
down muscle and convert it into glucose, as sort of a backup backup storage for energy. This
obviously isn’t ideal, since surprise surprise, a severe loss of muscle mass has been correlated
with poor health.

Benefits:
• They provide 40-60% of our daily calorie requirement

• They boost your mood

• Promote weight loss and prevent gain

• Reduce bad cholesterol (when ingesting soluble-fiber carbs such as oatmeal)

Pros and cons, Too much and Too little
Surprisingly, there are no complications in a diet with an extremely low carbohydrate intake. Our
body has several different ways of fulfilling the tasks done by carbohydrates (can’t be too
prepared), tasks ranging from benefitting muscle health to different types of food being your
main source of energy. (see Keto diets)

Almost every cell in your body can synthesize ATP (fuel molecule) from fat. Trygleceride, a
storage molecule derived from fat, is the 2nd largest type of stored energy in the body, second
only to glycogen (derived from carbs). This is how Keto diets can work and won’t just kill you.
Usually , the brain almost only uses glucose for fuel. However, during times of prolonged
starvation or very low-carb diets, the brain shifts its main fuel source from glucose to ketone
bodies, also known simply as ketones.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, here’s what can go wrong the next time you’re munching
on your favorite sugar laced saccharide induced nutrition product. :
1. Weight Gain
Surprise Surprise! Who would’ve thunk it? Who knew that carbs COULD cause weight
gain? Our body uses carbs as fuel, which is what, at bare minimum, you should have
gotten by now. Although when it doesn’t know what to do with all the extra energy, it
turns all the energy into fat. Body fat.
2. Diabetes The dreaded, sickeningly bittersweet disease we’ve all come to despise.
Specifically, type 2 diabetes comes from excessive carbohydrate intake. Though, firstly,
type 2 diabetes starts as a result of a halt in insulin production. Insulin helps your body
convert glucose into glycogen, which acts as your body’s energy storage. But when
there’s too much sugar in your body, insulin production grinds to a halt. .
3. Brain Fog *dumb zero brain activity voice* “duhhh, wutss vraeyn fogjjgj” dear mentally
handicapped student, if you really must know, brain fog is the dampening of proper
cognitive functioning as a result of a diabetic (see #2) having falling blood sugar. Some
annoying symptoms are : agitation, sudden nervousness and unexplainable confusion.
Not fun.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/carbohydrate-functions#section6