Classification of carbohydrates with examples

Classification of carbohydrates with examples

What are carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are organic compounds made up of the elements or components carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The hydrogen and oxygen atoms are present in the ratio 2:1. The general formula for carbohydrates is CnH2mOm.

Foods containing carbohydrates come mainly from plants and are a good source of energy for the body. There are three main groups of carbohydrates: monosaccharide, disaccharides, and polysaccharides.

Monosaccharide or single sugar
There are many single sugars or monosaccharide. The most common single sugar are the sugars with six carbon atoms – glucose, fructose, and galactose. Glucose is found in all animals, at least in small quantities. Fructose is found in plants, but rare in animals. Galactose is found in milk sugar from mammals. Glucose, fructose, and galactose have the same general formula C6H12O6, but their atoms are arranged differently within the molecules. These different arrangements give the sugars different chemical and biological properties.

Disaccharides or double sugars
Double sugars are so called because each molecule of a double sugar is made up of two molecules of single sugars bonded together. Double sugars are also called disaccharides. Disaccharides have the general formula C12H22O11. However, their atoms have different arrangements within the molecules. Common disaccharides are maltose, sucrose, and lactose.

• Maltose = glucose + glucose. Maltose occurs in sprouting grains.
• Sucrose = glucose + fructose. Sucrose occurs in sugarcane stems, sweet fruits, and certain storage roots, for example, carrots.
• Lactose = glucose + galactose. Lactose occurs in the milk of all mammals, including humans.

Polysaccharides or complex carbohydrates
Polysaccharides consist of many monosaccharide molecules joined together. Starch, glycogen, and cellulose are complex carbohydrates. Plants store glucose in

My valuable body love a lot of water

How much water do we need?

Water is lost from the body during breathing, in the urine, the feces and through sweating. To replace the amount of water lost daily, a normal, healthy and usually active adult in a temperate climate requires about three liters of water a day. In hot climates, slightly more water may be needed.

The amount of water needed by the body depends on these factors:

• How active a person is – a person who plays sports or carries out physical labor need more water.
• How healthy a person is – some diseases, for example, diabetes, causes sufferers to pass much more urine, so they need more water than healthy people do.
• The environmental conditions – people living in hot and dry climates need more water than those living in temperate climates. However, people who have lived in hot conditions for a long time become adapted to these conditions and therefore need less water than those who have not adapted to hot conditions.

In conclusion,