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Lecture 06: Chapter 4 - The Carbohydrates: Sugars, Starches, and Fibers

Artificial sweeteners may reduce the ability of food to trigger physiological responses that
govern the relationship b/t eating and energy content
o In rats, reducing the correlation b/t sweet taste and the caloric content of foods using
artificial sweeteners resulted in increased caloric intake, increased body weight, and
increased adiposity
o So, using artificial sweeteners may lead to increased body weight and obesity by
interfering w/ fundamental homeostatic physiological processes
o Diet soda may increase weight
A Primer in Chemistry: Appendix B in Whitney & Rolfes; 12th edition for those of you
who are unfamiliar with chemistry.
o Elemental composition of living cells: 27 of 92 naturally-occurring elements are
found in the body ((10%)H, He, Li, Be, B, (18%)C, (3%)N, (60%)O, F, Ne, Na, Mg,
Al, Si, (1%)P, S, Cl, Ar, K,(1.5%) Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co)
Percentages represent percent of body weight that the molecule has in the
body
OVERVIEW:
o Chemical bonds are formed between atoms via electronic interactions.
o The most important chemical bonds in biological molecules are covalent bonds.
o Covalent bonds are formed by electron-pair sharing between atoms.
o The science of chemistry is the science of bond rearrangements.
o Substances: Elements and Compounds
Molecules are the smallest part of a substance that still retains the chemical
and physical properties of that substance. Molecules are composed of atoms.
If all the atoms in a molecule are alike, the substance is an element. Over
100 different elements are known.
If the molecule contains different kinds of atoms, it is called a compound.
The Nature of Atoms
o Atoms: Each type of atom has a characteristic number of positively charged particles
called protons in its nucleus and an equal number of negatively charged electrons
forming a cloud surrounding the nucleus.
o The number of protons in an atom defines the atom; this number is called the atomic
number of the element.
o The nucleus (of all atoms except H) also includes neutrons, which have no electrical
charge. Protons and neutrons give atoms their weight, but electrons bond atoms
together to make molecules.
o Electrons are the agents of chemistry: chemistry is the science of bond
rearrangements in molecules.
Table B-1: The Elements Arranged According to Atomic Number.
Of the first 30 elements in this table (the lightest 30 elements in nature), 20
are essential for human life.
The most common atoms in living things by number are hydrogen (H),
oxygen (O), carbon (C), and nitrogen (N). If the water in living things is
ignored, the order is H, C, O, and N.
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Chemical Bonding
o The chemistry of an atom is determined by the number of electrons in its outer
shell.
o Chemistry is driven by the atom's need to have a complete outer shell of electrons.
For H, a complete outer shell has 2 electrons.
o For the rest of the atoms of low atomic number (the ones of interest to us), a full
outer shell will have 8 electrons.
o A chemical bond is formed between two atoms when the two atoms share a pair of
electrons.
Hydrogen: H atoms have one proton and one electron.
o To complete its outer shell of 2 electrons, an H atom must form a bond with
another atom (H or C or O or N) by electron sharing, as in formation of H 2.
Carbon: the atom of interest in organic chemistry and thus nutrition.
o Its atomic number is 6, so its nucleus has 6 protons surrounded by 6 electrons
(Figures on page B-2).
o Two of these electrons complete the inner shell, leaving 4 in the outer shell. To
complete this outer shell, carbon forms 4 bonds by sharing electrons with other
carbon atoms, or with hydrogen atoms, or with nitrogen atoms, or with oxygen
atoms, and so forth.
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Nitrogen and Oxygen: Nitrogen (Atomic Number = 7) has 2 electrons in an inner shell and
5 electrons in its outer shell, so it forms 3 bonds by electron sharing in order to complete its
outer shell (Figures on page B-2 and B-3).

Bonds formed by electron sharing are called covalent bonds. Oxygen (Atomic Number = 8)
forms 2 bonds by electron sharing. If those 2 bonds are with hydrogen, water (H2O) is
formed (Figures on pages B-2 and B-3).

Elemental Composition of Living Cells: Table B-2. The atomic composition of living cells
by weight.

The four main types of atoms found in nutrients and their characteristic number of bonds is
shown in Figure 4-1, with ethanol as an example of a simple molecule.

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Chapter 4: The Chemist's View of Carbohydrates

o Carbohydrates: carbohydrates have the empirical formula (CH2O)n - a ratio of one
carbon atom to one "water". The predominant nutritional carbohydrates are sugars
(or are composed of sugars), where a sugar is defined as C6H12O6.
Hexose, where hex refers to 6 and ose means sugar/carbohydrate
Carbs arent a significant component of meats
o Simple carbohydrates (sugars) monosaccharides (one sugar unit) and
disaccharides (two sugar units).
o Complex carbohydrates (starches and fibers) polysaccharides (many sugar units
- hundreds or even thousands) arranged as straight or branched chains
The Simple Carbohydrates (C6H12O6)
o Monosaccharides: three important ones - glucose, fructose, galactose. Figure 4-2
shows the chemical structure of glucose.
Glucose is most important and becomes the common denominator
Glucose is an important metabolic fuel
Red blood cells NEED glucose for energy
Your central nervous system relies almost exclusively on glucose
Your metabolism regulates the blood glucose level
o Figure 4-3 shows various simplified diagrams used to represent the structure of
glucose.
o Figure 4-4 compares the chemical structures of glucose and fructose., and Figure 4-5
compares the structures of glucose and galactose.
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Disaccharides: Formed when two monosaccharide molecules come together in a
condensation reaction (dehydration synthesis reaction) to produce a disaccharide
molecule plus a water molecule (Figure 4-6).
o Monosaccharide + monosaccharide disaccharide + water
o In disaccharides that are digestible, this bond has a configuration known as an alpha-
glycosidic bond.
o The reverse of a dehydration synthesis reaction (condensation reaction) is called a
hydrolysis reaction, because a molecule of water is used to split ("lyse") a molecule
into two parts (as in: disaccharide + H2O 2 monosaccharides) - see Figure 4-7.
o The important digestible disaccharides in nature are maltose (2 glucose units),
sucrose (glucose + fructose), lactose (glucose + galactose; lactose is "milk sugar").
See page 95.
The Complex Carbohydrates
o Glycogen and Starch: Figure 4-8. Sugar polymers linked by -glycosidic bonds
Both glycogen and starch are glucose polymers.
Glycogen is found only in animals (and some bacteria) and starch is found
only in plants.
Starch consists of amylose and amylopectin.
Amylopectin and glycogen are very similar to one another (glycocgen has
more branches)
Starches from grains provide much of the food energy for people all over the
world.
Rice in Asia, wheat in Europ and North America, corn in Central and
South America, millet in Africa, rye/barley/oats in various places
Fibers nondigestible polysaccharides and non-saccharide polymers (Table 4-3)
o Cellulose: also a glucose polymer (unbranched, like amylose), but the bonds between
sugar units (so-called - (beta-) glycosidic bonds) cannot be broken by human
digestive enzymes, so cellulose is not metabolized (Figure 4-9: Cellulose & starch
compared).
o Cellulose is a structural polysaccharide that gives strength and support to plant
structures.
o Other fibers: hemicelluloses, pectins, gums and mucilages, lignin.
Fibers: Their Solubilities, Sources and Actions - Table 4-3
o Soluble fibers versus insoluble fibers
Foods typically contain a bit of both
Soluble: have the ability to absorb cholesterol and slow transit of food
through small intestine
Insoluble: speed up passage in the colon
Digestion and Absorption of Carbohydrates
Figure 4-10: Carbohydrate digestion in the GI tract
o In the mouth: Salivary amylases begin starch digestion.
o In the stomach: Stomach acid and stomach proteases inactivate the salivary
amylases, halting starch digestion.
o In the small intestine: Here is where most carbohydrate digestion takes place, via
the action of pancreatic amylase and disaccharidases: maltase, sucrase, and lactase
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(Note: maltase and sucrase are -glycosidases, but lactase is a -glycosidase).
o Fibers delay the absorption of carbohydrates and fats in the small intestine. Within 1-
4 hours, all the sugars and most of the starches have been digested.
o In the large intestine: The small amount of undigested starch that gets to the large
intestine is called resistant starch. The resistant starch and indigestible fiber attract
water, which softens the stools. Some bacteria can ferment ( metabolize without
the requirement for oxygen) these materials.
o Absorption into the bloodstream: Except for a small amount of glucose absorbed
by the tissues of the mouth, carbohydrate absorption takes place solely in the small
intestine via active transport and are carried away in the blood to the liver, via the
portal vein. See Figure 4-11.
Summary: Digestion of carbohydrates by the body converts starches into disaccharides and
then monosaccharides (principally glucose, fructose, and galactose). Glucose is the
prominent monosaccharide, since the others (fructose and galactose) are readily converted
into glucose.