Submitted to: Dr.

Sami
Submitted by: Rabia Javed
Topic: Sources and Applications of
Carbohydrates
Department: M.phill Chemistry
Semester: Second
Date: 10/07/2018

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Sources and Applications of Carbohydrates
Definition
Carbohydrate is any of a large class of organic compounds consisting of carbon,
hydrogen, and oxygen, usually with twice as many hydrogen atoms as carbon or
oxygen atoms. Carbohydrates are produced in green plants by photosynthesis and
serve as a major energy source in animal diets.

It is a biological molecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O)
atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water); in other
words, with the empirical formula Cn(H2O)n, where m could be different from n.

Carbohydrates are called simple or complex, depending on their chemical structure.

Simple carbohydrates include sugars found naturally in foods such as fruits,
vegetables, milk, and milk products. They also include sugars added during food
processing and refining. Complex carbohydrates include whole grain breads and
cereals, starchy vegetables and legumes. Many of the complex carbohydrates are
good sources of fiber.

There are three macronutrients: carbohydrates, protein and fats. Macronutrients are
essential for proper body functioning, and the body requires large amounts of them.
All macronutrients must be obtained through diet; the body cannot produce
macronutrients on its own.

Carbohydrates, also known as saccharides or carbs, are sugars or starches. They are
a major food source and a key form of energy for most organisms. They consist of
carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms.

Basic Compounds

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 Two basic compounds make up carbohydrates:

Aldehydes: These are double-bonded carbon and oxygen atoms, plus a hydrogen
atom.

Ketones: These are double-bonded carbon and oxygen atoms, plus two additional
carbon atoms.

Types
There are various types of carbohydrate. They include monosaccharides,
disaccharides, and polysaccharides.

Monosaccharides
This is the smallest possible sugar unit. Examples include glucose, galactose, or
fructose. Glucose is a major source of energy for a cell. "Blood sugar" means
"glucose in the blood."

In human nutrition, these include:

 galactose, most readily available in milk and dairy products

 fructose, mostly in vegetables and fruit
Disaccharides
Disaccharides are two monosaccharide molecules bonded together, for example,
lactose, maltose, and sucrose.

Bonding one glucose molecule with a galactose molecule produces lactose. Lactose
is commonly found in milk.

Bonding one glucose molecule with a fructose molecule, produces a sucrose

molecule.

Sucrose is found in table sugar. It is often results from photosynthesis, when sunlight
absorbed by chlorophyll reacts with other compounds in plants.

Polysaccharides
Different polysaccharides act as food stores in plants and animals. They also play a
structural role in the plant cell wall and the tough outer skeleton of insects.

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 Polysaccharides are a chain of two or more monosaccharides.

The chain may be:

 branched, so that the molecule looks like a tree with branches and twigs
 unbranched, where the molecule is a straight line
Polysaccharide molecule chains may consist of hundreds or thousands of
monosaccharides.

Glycogen is a polysaccharide that humans and animals store in the liver and muscles.

Starches are glucose polymers that are made up of amylose and amylopectin. Rich
sources include potatoes, rice, and wheat. Starches are not water soluble. Humans
and animals digest them using amylase enzymes.

Cellulose is one of the main structural constituents of plants. Wood, paper, and
cotton are mostly made of cellulose.

Simple and complex carbs:

Monosaccharides and disaccharides are simple carbohydrates, and polysaccharides
are complex.

Simple carbohydrates are sugars. They consist of just one or two molecules. They
provide a rapid source of energy, but the consumer soon feels hungry again.
Examples include white bread, sugars, and candies.

Complex carbohydrates consist of long chains of sugar molecules. Wholegrains

and foods that still have their fiber in are complex carbs. They tend to fill you up for
longer, and they are considered more healthful, as they contain more vitamins,
minerals, and fiber. Examples include fruits, vegetables, pulses, and whole meal
pasta.

Nutrition:
Bread, pasta, beans, potatoes, bran, rice, and cereals are carbohydrate-rich foods.
Most carbohydrate-rich foods have a high starch content. Carbohydrates are the most
common source of energy for most organisms, including humans.

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We could get all our energy from fats and proteins if we had to. One gram of
carbohydrate contains approximately 4 kilocalories (kcal), the same amount as
protein. One gram of fat contains around 9 kcal.

However, carbohydrates have other important functions:

• the brain needs carbohydrates, specifically glucose, because neurons cannot burn
fat

• dietary fiber is made of polysaccharides that our bodies do not digest

The United States (U.S.) Dietary Guidelines 2015-2020 recommend obtaining 45 to

65 percent of energy needs from carbohydrates, and a maximum of 10 percent should
come from simple carbohydrates, in other words, glucose and simple sugars.

How can carbohydrates lead to diabetes?

When a person consumes carbohydrates, the digestive system breaks some of them
down into glucose. This glucose enters the blood and raises blood sugar, or glucose,
levels. When blood glucose levels rise, beta cells in the pancreas release insulin.

Insulin is a hormone that makes our cells absorb blood sugar for energy or storage.
As the cells absorb the blood sugar, blood sugar levels start to drop.

When blood sugar levels drop below a certain point, alpha cells in the pancreas
release glucagon. Glucagon is a hormone that makes the liver release glycogen, a
sugar stored in the liver.

In short, insulin and glucagon help maintain regular levels of blood glucose in cells,
especially the brain cells. Insulin brings excess blood glucose levels down, while
glucagon brings levels back up when they are too low.

If blood glucose levels rise too rapidly, too often, the cells can eventually become
faulty and not respond properly to insulin's instructions. Over time, the cells need
more insulin to react. We call this insulin resistance.

After producing high levels of insulin for many years, the beta cells in the pancreas
can wear out. Insulin production drops. Eventually it can stop altogether.

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SOURCES OF CARBOHYDRATES
 Glucose occurs in sweet fruits such as grapes, mangoes, oranges, etc. Honey
is also rich in glucose. In combined state it is present in maltose, sucrose,
starch, cellulose, etc.
 Fructose is found in ripe fruits and honey.
 Major sources of sucrose are sugarcane and sugar beet.
 Lactose is present in milk.
 Major sources of starch are wheat, rice, cassava, root tubers such as potatoes,
legumes and vegetables.
 Cellulose is present in cotton, wood and jute.

Food Sources
Vegetables, fruits, whole grains, milk, and milk products are the major food sources
of carbohydrates. Grains and certain vegetables including corn and potatoes are rich
in starch, whereas sweet potatoes are mostly sucrose, not starch. Fruits and dark-
green vegetables contain little or no starch but provide sugars and dietary fiber.

It is advisable to select foods high in dietary fiber, including whole-grain breads and
cereals, legumes, vegetables, and fruits, whenever possible. Typically, vegetables
and fruits are not the most concentrated fiber sources, but these are important foods
to encourage because they contribute important micronutrients. Similarly, milk and
milk products, which contain lactose, generally do not contain fiber but these, too,
are important because they contribute calcium, vitamin D, and protein to the diet.

Water, Protein, and Carbohydrate Content of Selected Vegetables:

 Artichoke: 85% water, 2.9% protein, 10.6% carbohydrate

 Beets, red: 87.3% water, 1.6% protein, 9.9% carbohydrate

 Celery: 94.1% water, 0.9% protein, 3.9% carbohydrate

 Corn: 13.8% water, 8.9% protein, 72.2% carbohydrate

 Lima bean: 10.3% water, 20.4% protein, 64% carbohydrate

 Potato: 79.8% water, 2.1% protein, 17.1% carbohydrate

 Red pepper: 74.3% water, 3.7% protein, 18.8% carbohydrate

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  Summer squash: 94% water, 1.1% protein, 4.2% carbohydrate

Functions of carbohydrates
1. They are used as material for energy storage and production.
2. Starch and glycogen, respectively in plants and animals, are stored
carbohydrates from which glucose can be mobilized for energy production.
Glucose can supply energy both fueling ATP synthesis (ATP, the cell’s
energy currency, has inside a phosphorylated sugar) and in the form of
reducing power as NADPH.
3. It should be noted that glucose, used as energy source, “burns” without
yielding metabolic wastes, being turned in CO2 and water, and of course
releasing energy.
4. Monosaccharides supply 3.74 kcal/g, disaccharides 3.95 kcal/g, while starch
4.18 kcal/g; on average it is approached to 4 kcal/g.
5. They exert a protein-saving action: if present in adequate amount in daily
nourishment, the body does not utilize proteins for energy purpose, an anti-
economic and “polluting” fuel because it will need to eliminate nitrogen
(ammonia) and sulfur present in some amino acids.
6. Their presence is necessary for the normal lipid metabolism. More than 100
years ago Pasteur said: “Fats burn in the fire of carbohydrates. This idea
continues to receive confirmations from the recent scientific studies.
Moreover, excess carbohydrates may be converted in fatty acids and
triglycerides (processes that occur mostly in the liver).
7. Glucose is indispensable for the maintenance of the integrity of nervous tissue
(some central nervous system areas are able to use only glucose for energy
production) and red blood cells.
8. Two sugars, ribose and deoxyribose, are part of the bearing structure,
respectively of the RNA and DNA and obviously find themselves in the
nucleotide structure as well.
9. They take part in detoxifying processes. For example, at hepatic level
glucuronic acid, synthesized from glucose, combines with endogenous
substances, as hormones, bilirubin etc., and exogenous substances, as
chemical or bacterial toxins or drugs, making them a toxic, increasing their
solubility and allowing their elimination.
10.They are also found linked to many proteins and lipids. Within cells they act
as signals that determine the metabolic fate or the intracellular localization of
the molecules which are bound. On the cellular surface their presence is
necessary for identification processes between cells that are involved e.g. in
the recognition between spermatozoon and oocyte during fertilization, in the

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 return of lymphocytes in the lymph nodes of provenance or still in the
leukocyte adhesion to the lips of the lesion of a blood vessel.
11.Two homo polysaccharides, cellulose (the most abundant polysaccharide in
nature) and chitin (probably, next to cellulose, the second most abundant
polysaccharide in nature), serve as structural elements, respectively, in plant
cell walls and exoskeletons of nearly a million species of arthropods (e.g.
insects, lobsters, and crabs).
12.Heteropolysaccharides provide extracellular support for organisms of all
kingdoms: in bacteria, the rigid layer of the cell wall is composed in part of a
contained two alternating monosaccharide units while in animals the
extracellular space is occupied by several types of hetero polysaccharides,
which form a matrix with numerous functions, as hold individual cells
together and provide protection, support, and shape to cells, tissues, and
organs.

Pharmaceutical Importance of Carbohydrates:

Starch:
 It is used as binder, diluent and disintegrant in oral solid dosage formulations.
 It is used in dry filled capsule formulations.

Cellulose:
 Powdered cellulose is used as tablet diluent.
 Suspending agent in aqueous suspensions.
 Methyl cellulose is used in cosmetics and food industry.
Glucose:
 It is used as base in oral solutions.
 Coating agent in tablet manufacturing.
 Liquid glucose is used as sweetener.

Lactose:
 Capsule filler and binder.
 Diluent in tablets and capsules.

Sucrose:

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  Binding agent for wet granulation.
 Sweetener in chewable tablets.
 to increase viscosity.

Sorbitol:
 It is used as stabilizer in drug and vitamin suspensions.
 In syrups, it is useful to prevent crystallization around the cap of bottles.

Importance of Marine Carbohydrates:

Marine carbohydrates are one of the most important organic compounds that are
produced by photosynthesis in marine living organisms. In marine environments,
carbohydrates are considered as derivative organic compound in seawater and
sediments. They are are playing an important role in various pharmaceutical
purposes such as;

 blood coagulation,
 anticancer activity,
 antioxidant activity,
 antiviral activity,
 antilipidepic activity,
 immunomodulation activity.

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