LECTURER :

MR. NW
CARBOHYDRATES MOKOENA

DATE:06 March 2018

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 LESSON OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lesson students should be able to:

 Define carbohydrates
 Differentiate between mono,di- and polysaccharides
 List the functions of carbohydrates
 List the health functions of dietary fiber
 Identify different biochemical structures of
monosaccharaides

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 INTRODUCTION (1)

 Carbohydrates are organic compounds that consist of carbon,

hydrogen and oxygen.
 Sugars and starches are different sorts of carbohydrates
 In their simplest form the general formula is CHO.
 They vary from simple sugars containing from three to
seven carbon atoms to very complex polymers.
 Only the 6 carbon sugars (hexoses) and 5 carbon sugars
(pentoses) and their polymers play an important role in
nutrition.
 Sugars can refer either to a group of nutrients (glucose,
sucrose ..) or to food/table sugar (refined sugar )
There are several sorts of sugars in foods
 Lactose- milk
 Sucrose- sugar cane
 Fructose and glucose - sugar cane and honey
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 INTRODUCTION (2)

 Glucose and fructose are “simple sugars”. (Body cells can

only use simple sugars)
 Some sugars are made up of two simple sugars.
 Lactose - Glucose and Galactose
 Sucrose – Glucose and Fructose
 Maltose-Glucose and Glucose
 This means that when lactose, sucrose and maltose are
digested they break down into glucose & galactose,
glucose & fructose and glucose & glucose respectively.
 Starches are the main sort of carbohydrates in cereals
(such as rice, maize and wheat) & starchy roots.
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 INTRODUCTION (3)

 Each starch molecule is made up of many glucose

molecules.
 When starch is digested in the gut, it breaks down into
glucose.
 The glucose is absorbed into the blood and goes to the
cells to provide energy.
 Starch is stored in side the grain of plant cells
(endosperm)
 When a starchy food is boiled, the grains absorb water.
They swell up and might break.
 This makes the starch easier to digest and may make the
food to swell up as in rice swelling two or three times. 5
 CLASSIFICATION

 Carbohydrate classification reflects that all forms, from

glucose to the more complex ones are related to simple
sugars (saccharides).
 Monosaccharides - simplest forms.
 Disaccharides - give two monosaccharides.
 Oligosaccharides - yield from 3 to 10 monosaccharides

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 FUNCTIONS

 They are a major source of energy-provides energy in

every cell of the body. The central nervous system, lungs,
adrenal cortex & red blood cells uses glucose only as a
source of energy.
 CHO has a protein sparing effect.-when supplies in
sufficient amounts, the body will use CHO preferentially
as a source of energy thus sparing protein for body
building.
 CHO can be used in making non essential amino acids,
fats and components of hereditary material ,DNA & RNA
 CHO serve as carries of carotene, water soluble vitamins
& minerals and sources of fibre
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 MONOSACCHARIDES (1)

 The principal monosaccharides that occur in food are

glucose and fructose.
 They may exist either as an open-chain or a ring structure.
 Glucose is abundant in fruits, sweet corn, corn syrup and
honey.
 It is the principal product formed by hydrolysis of more
complex carbohydrates in digestion and the form of sugar
normally found in the blood stream.
 It is oxidised in the cells as a source of energy and stored
in the liver and muscles in the form of glycogen
 Under normal conditions the nervous system can only use
glucose as a major fuel source. 8
 MONOSACCHARIDES (2)

 Fructose (fruit sugar) is found together with glucose in

fruit and honey.
 It is the sweetest of all the sugars.
 Large quantities can be manufactured relatively
inexpensively from starch, and it is used commercially in
sweeteners.
 Soft drinks may be sweetened with high-fructose corn
syrup.
 Galactose is not found free in nature, but is produced
from lactose (milk sugar) by hydrolysis in the digestive
system.
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 DISACCHARIDES (1)

 Three most common disaccharides.

 At least one of the monosaccharides is glucose.
 Sucrose = glucose + fructose
 Maltose = glucose + glucose.
 Lactose = glucose and galactose
 Sucrose is ordinary table sugar.
 It is found mainly in sugar cane, corn syrup, maple syrup
as well as in fruit, vegetables and honey.
 When hydrolysed by digestive enzymes sucrose is
converted to a mixture of equal parts of glucose and
fructose
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 DISACCHARIDES (2)

 Maltose does not occur freely in nature.

 It is created during digestion of starch- disaccharide containing
two glucose molecules.
 This occurs in nature when the seed of a cereal grain sprouts and
its enzymes convert the grain starch to maltose.
 Barley malt for example is used as a sweetener in some
products.
 A similar reaction occurs in beer manufacturing, when starch is
hydrolysed by diastase(a plant enzyme) obtained from sprouting
grain.
 Lactose is the principal sugar found in milk.
 It does not occur in plants and is limited almost exclusively to
mammary glands of lactating animals.
 It is less soluble than other disaccharides and is not very sweet.
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 POLYSACCHARIDES (1)

 Polysaccharides of interest in nutrition include: starch,

dextrin, glycogen and cellulose
 They are all assembled from glucose units, differing only in
the kind of linkage.
 Other polysaccharides may contain monosaccharides other
than glucose.
 Starch and glycogen are generally completely digestible.
 Other polysaccharides are partly or completely indigestible.
 Starch is found only in plants.
 It occurs in both the amylose form (long straight chains of
glucose units) and the amylopectin form (branched chains
of glucose units).
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 POLYSACCHARIDES (2)

 Starch granules of varying sizes and shapes are encased

within the plant cells by cellulose walls.
 They are insoluble in cold water.
 Cooking causes the granules to swell and the mixture to
gel.
 Cooking also softens and ruptures the cell to make the
starch available enzymatic digestive processes.
 Modified starch is a popular thickening agent used in
commercially prepared food such as salad dressings,
canned soups, pie fillings, gravies and canned puddings.
 The modification process permits the retention of
desirable thickening properties lost in ordinary starch
after cooking.
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 POLYSACCHARIDES (3)

 Dextrins are intermediate products of starch digestion.

 Glycogen is a storage form of carbohydrates in humans and is the
primary and the most readily available source of glucose.
 Cellulose and hemicellulose constitute the cellular frame work of
plants.
 It resembles starch however, the glucose in molecules are linked in
a form of bonding that resists the action of enzymes.
 It occurs only in plant material: fruit and vegetable pulp, skins,
stalks, leaves and outer coverings of the grains, nuts seeds and
legumes.
 Pectin is made up of units of galactose derivative.
 It absorbs water and forms gel and because of these properties it is
used for making jellies.
 Gums and mucillages are similar to pectin except that the galactose
is combined with other sugars.
 They are found in plant secretions or seeds and are often added to
processed foods to confer specific qualities.
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 SWEETENERS

 Synthetic compounds that may be used to sweeten food.

 Divided into nutritive and non-nutritive.
 Nutritive sweeteners provides calories and non-nutritive sweeteners
are calorie free.
 Cyclamates and Saccharine are the most common non-nutritive
sweeteners.
 Acesulfame potassium(Acesulfame –k) is also used as a non-nutritive
sweetener.
 The nutritive sweeteners include sucrose, fructose, glucose and sugar
alcohols such as mannitol, xylitol and sorbitol.
 Sugar alcohols are commonly used in diabetic or low - or no-sugar
products. Sorbitol being the most common.
 Although they taste sweet, their absorption and metabolism dif fers
from sugar.
 Aspartame, a nutritive sweetener, marketed as Nutra-Sweet is 200X
sweeter than table sugar.
 Aspartame is composed of two amino acids phenyl alanine and
aspartic acid. People suffering from Phenyl ketonuria, should not
consume aspartame. 15
THANK YOU

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