Facts about carbohydrates

-Carbohydrates are simply chemicals compounds composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen

-The formula for carbohydrates follows a ratio of 1 carbon:2 hydrogen:1 oxygen

-Carbohydrates are the primary source of energy for our body and makes up the majority of our diet

-There are three groups of carbohydrates, or saccharides as referred to in biochemistry: monosaccharide, polysaccharide, and oligosaccharide

Monosaccharide

-Monosaccharaides are the simplest of all the carbohydrates, these simple sugars are either aldehydes or ketones with hydroxyl groups; i.e. glucose and fructose

-These simple sugar are the building block for more complex carbohydrates and essential building blocks for nucleic acids

-The monosaccharaides are separated by the number of carbon molecules; a monosaccharide with 5 carbons is called a pentose, and hexose with 6 carbons

Oligosaccharide and Polysaccharide

-The simple sugars could join together to form more complex carbohydrates through the formation of glycosidic bonds

-Condensation is the process of forming glycosidic bonds, in which the hydroxyl group of two sugars join together and splitting out water molecule as by-product

-Hydrolysis is the process in which a complex sugar reacts with water to produce two or more simpler sugars

-Oligosaccharides are carbohydrates formed when a few sugars are joined together, typically between two to ten

-Sucrose is a disaccharide formed by a glucose molecule and a fructose molecule, it is commonly known as table sugar

-Oligosaccharides has many function, including forming glycoproteins and glycolipids

-Oligosaccharides play important role in cell-to-cell recognition

 -Polysaccharides are carbohydrate chains of lots of simple sugars

-Polysaccharides could be linear in shape (i.e. amylose) or branched (i.e. glycogen)

-Polysaccharides act as energy storage units in organisms and provide structural support

-Amylose is a linear glucose polymer found in plants as energy storage; because it is linear it is harder to digest and takes up less space

-Glycogen is a branched glucose polymer found in animals, its structure provides rapid release of glucose which is then transformed into energy

-Cellulose is another linear glucose polymer found in plants, it is the main material for cell walls, and it is very hard to digest in our body and is the major source of our dietary fibre