animal polysaccharide composed of glucose units

Most are known as sugars, starches and fiber. Plants use carbon dioxide, water and energy from the sun to produce the carbohydrates we eat. So, according to the Food Guide, for a 2,000-calorie diet, you should have 6 ounce-equivalents of grain products (breads, cereals, pasta and rice), with 3 being whole-grain products, 2.5 cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruits each day.Ĭarbohydrate is a compound made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Since dry beans are a good source of protein, they are found in the meat group as well as in the vegetable group. The sources of plant foods are found in the Grains, Fruits and Vegetables groups. The USDA Food Guide is structured on this concept. Most of our calories should come from carbohydrate foods in the form of complex carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the major source of energy for the body.Ĭarbohydrates are a healthy part of our diet. In this lesson, you will learn the following:Ĭarbohydrates are made by plants.

You will learn how much carbohydrate you should eat each day. You will also learn about the different types of sugars that form carbohydrates and the difference between simple and complex carbohydrates. In this lesson, you will learn what carbohydrate are. The body needs carbohydrates to use fat efficiently. Carbohydrates also protect against wasteful breakdown of body protein to supply energy, and carbohydrates also provide flavor and sweetness to foods. Carbohydrate foods are also generally low in fat, depending on how they are prepared and what is added to them at the table.

We don’t want to get more fat than we need because, if we do, fat gives us saturated fat, a kind of fat that is not healthy. We can get energy from other nutrients like protein and fat, but protein needs to be saved for building our body and keeping it working well. Our body’s favorite supply of energy comes from carbohydrates. We need even more energy when we are growing, getting well, pumping up. Even when we don’t think about it, our body is busy keeping our heart pumping, blood flowing and lungs working. We need energy to do everything we do, whether we are thinking about it or not, like going for a walk, working or sleeping. Plants, which are immobile do not have needs for such immediate release of glucose and thus have less need for highly branched polysaccharides. Since glucose is used for energy by muscles, glucose concentrations can be increased faster the more branched the glycogen is. More highly branched polysaccharides have more ends to clip, and this translates to more glucose-1-phosphates that can be removed simultaneously by numerous phosphorylases. The breakdown of these polysaccharides is catalyzed by enzymes, known as phosphorylases, that clip glucose residues from the ends of glycogen chains and attach a phosphate to them in the process, producing glucose-1-phosphate. A plausible explanation is based on the method by which these molecules are broken down. One might wonder why such branching occurs more abundantly in animals than in plants. Glycogen, however, has many more alpha 1-6 branches than amylopectin, with such bonds occurring about every 10 residues. Glycogen is a polysaccharide that is physically related to amylopectin in being built only of glucose and in having a mix of alpha 1-4 and alpha 1-6 bonds.

Animal polysaccharide composed of glucose units