does anyone know what a complex carbohydrate is?

Answer 1

Dear Helpmeplease:

The way I was made to understand complex carbohydrates was as follows:

1. WHAT ARE THEY ?

"Broken down sugars used for the brain and all body functions; derived from the starches in foods."

2. WHAT FOODS ?

Breads (whole grains)
Cereals (unrefined grains)
Pastas (unrefined grain)
Rice (brown or wild rices)
Potatoes (Tubers)
Vegetables
Beans

Answer 2

To clarify, carbohydrates are molecules of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen produced by plants through photosynthesis. The term saccharide is a synonym for carbohydrate; a monosaccharide (mono=1) is the fundamental unit of carbohydrates.

A complex carbohydrate refers to many monosaccharide units linked together. In addition, you will often hear the terms “long”, and “short” carbohydrate chains. Short carbohydrate chains are those under 10 sugar molecules. And long chains are those over 10 sugar molecules.

Answer 3

Carbohydrates are a large family of compounds including sugars, starches, dextrins, dietary fiber, and functional fiber. "Complex carbohydrate" is a term meaning all of these except sugars, which are often called "simple carbohydrates." Unlike sugars, complex carbohydrates are large molecules that supply no energy until they are broken down by the digestive system. (In the case of dietary and functional fiber, the molecules can't be digested, but they do play another important role in health.

Answer 4

It is a healthy carbohydrate that the body metabolizes slowly, as opposed to a simple carb like sugar. Some complex carbs are brown rice and beans. Simple carbs are the bad guys like cookies and cakes..... foods made from white flour and sugar are very bad for us.

Answer 5

Complex carbohydrates is starch. Starch are simply sugars bonded together to form a chain. Their called complex because the digestive enzymes have to work much harder to access the bonds to break the chain.

Answer 6

not broken down easily into sugar. for example pasta
a simple carbohydrate would be sugar because it's already broken down and doesn't take as long to digest