Monday, 1 September 2008

ALL ABOUT CARBOHYDRATES

By: Mujuthaba

Let me try and explain carbohydrates in simplest of terms. Carbohydrates are one of the major nutrients which fuel our body, much like a steam engine that runs on coal. Most foods such as flour, rice, potatoes, taro, grains, oats, fruits and vegetables are composed of carbohydrates. One of the simplest functional forms of carbohydrate is glucose.


How is carbohydrate extracted by the body from food?

Well, when you intake a carbohydrate rich meal, we all know it goes straight to the stomach. The stomach churns and grinds the food very finely to expose every bit of the nutrients. Glucose, one of the most important simplest carbohydrates, is exposed during this time. As the now semi-solid meal passes out into the intestines. The nutrients needed by the body, such as glucose, are sucked up by the intestines straight into the blood stream.


How are carbohydrates stored in the body?

The glucose travels through the blood stream in the body. The blood is a transport system which acts like a delivery truck. This truck delivers glucose to all the cells in the body that needs it, particularly the muscles and liver. Inside the liver and muscle cells, the glucose is packed and stored for use, such as exercise and just to keep one self alive and functioning. The packed and stored glucose is now known as glycogen. If stored in the muscles, these are known as muscle glycogen. If in the liver, liver glycogen.


How are carbohydrates used to do work?

Ah, the big question. The stored glycogen is taken off the package, which then would be called glucose again, is ‘burned’ to create energy for functioning. Just picture a steam engine running on coal. The coal is glucose and the engine is the body. The more coal, the better the engine runs; the lesser the coal, the slower it runs. So in daily life, if you feel weak, you can assume your body is low on fuel, which are carbohydrates.


Why do we still keep on moving even if we don’t intake carbohydrates?

The body uses fuel from two other sources of nutrients, they are fats and proteins. None of them are as efficient as carbohydrates in producing energy to do work. To extract energy from proteins and fats, they have to be converted to glucose, the simplest form of functional carbohydrate. If proteins and fats are not converted to glucose (carbohydrate), we cannot get energy from them. This conversion is mainly processed in the liver, only when the body is low on glucose. Since these processes are so slow, the body would not function as fast or quickly. Hence, it is important to take carbohydrates rather than rely on diets comprising proteins or fats.


How important are Carbohydrates for survival?

The most important organ in the body, the brain, functions only on blood glucose. The brain doesn‘t have fat stores around it, or it doesn’t use its own cells to produce energy. If we have low glucose in our blood, we start feeling drowsy and in some instances faint. This is what happens during extremely intense training sessions when you feel like you’ve hit the wall. Most of the glucose is delivered to the exercising muscle cells, and before the truck reaches the brain, there is simply no glucose for the brain.


Even in such case, the brain isn’t starved yet. Our brains are very intelligent on survival. When the brain senses the first sign of low blood glucose in the body, it shuts down the whole body, simply because it has control over them. This will ensure that the brain gets the glucose. At this stage, we would probably have fainted. Drowsiness is the onset of gradual shutting down of the body by the brain.


How does carbohydrates makes us fat?

As stated before, carbohydrates are stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen. When these houses are full, the carbohydrates need to be stored in huge warehouses. This is when carbohydrates are converted to fat and stored in the fat stores for future use. If they are not used, they simply bulk up without any limit. Consideration should be taken not to consume carbohydrate in access. They will definitely increase your fat stores.


In conclusion, carbohydrates should be used adequately daily, especially if you are active exercisers. You will feel the difference if you are deprived of carbohydrates.