Why do people need carbohydrates?

Question

What are some contributions to them, please list examples

Answer 1

Your brain requires an uninterupted flow of oxygen and blood glucose to function. The brain needs large amounts of the sugar, glucose, which is its primary energy source. The mature, healthy, mammalian brain uses only glucose to obtain energy. A second function is the breakdown of glucose contributing to the formation of the neurotransmitters.

The carbohydrates we use as foods have their origin in the photosynthesis of plants. They take the form of sugars, starches, and cellulose. The best source of glucose is carbohydrates (another source is protein). If you do not eat carbohydrates you will, usually, not have enough glucose. If you do not have glucose your brain begins to starve. When your brain is starving you do not think clearly and everything becomes secondary to a sugar source to your glucose starved brain. Lack of glucose energy to the brain can cause symptoms ranging from headache, mild confusion, and abnormal behavior, to loss of consciousness, seizure, and coma. Severe hypoglycemia [low blood sugar (low glucose)] can cause death.

Not all carbohydrates are the same, some are simple sugars like monosaccharides or disaccharides while some are complex carbohydrates like starches or polysaccharides. A simple sugar like sucrose or table sugar is made up of glucose and fructose. It is disaccharide composed of two monosaccharides. Starches are polymers, long repeating chains, of glucose. Plants convert excess glucose into starch for storage. Starch is hundreds to thousands of glucose units long. This is why we eat things like wheat, corn or potatoes, they offer a large slowly digestible source of glucose that is a neccesity to us.

"Glucose is the major substrate that sustains normal brain function. When the brain glucose concentration approaches zero, glucose transport across the blood–brain barrier becomes rate limiting for metabolism during, for example, increased metabolic activity and hypoglycemia."
http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v21/n6/abs/9591100a.html

"Although insulin is not supposed to play a role in the brain, recent evidence in both lab animals and humans suggests that the hormone may be needed for normal brain functions, including learning and memory; if so, defects in the brain's ability to use insulin could lead to anything from mild memory loss to Alzheimer's disease. The idea is still controversial, however, partly because no one yet knows exactly how insulin might affect brain neurons. Some researchers suggest that the hormone chaperones glucose to brain neurons and thereby helps them maintain their energy production, in which case, memory loss might result when brain cells lack insulin and become glucose starved. Others hypothesize that insulin has other beneficial roles, such as spurring neuronal growth and inhibiting the formation of brain lesions called neurofibrillary tangles that characterize Alzheimer's. If insulin's role in cognition can be pinned down, though, the work might one day point the way to drugs that could reduce memory loss in both Alzheimer's and normal aging."
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/280/5363/517

Answer 2

Why Do People Need Carbohydrates

Answer 3

First of all, you can't be diagnosed with high carbohydrates. Cholestrol and blood pressure can be high. But not Carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are simple sugars, pastas, bread, and so on. Just cut down on your carb intake. You don't need to shut them out completely. Make sure the carbohydrates you're ingesting aren't from sugars, like in juices, and in sweets and so on. Complex carbs are fine, like in pastas and bread but you don't want to over do it. Check on line for healthy diets. Also, try to eat 5-6 small meals a day to boost your metabolism (a meal can be a banana and a yogurt). Good Luck.

Answer 4

We use carbohydrates:

1. as a supply of energy - the fuel for cellular respiration
2. to store energy temporarily - glycogen
3. as part of the plasma membranes - help in recognizing the body's own cells

Answer 5

they are the most common source of energy
the Institute of Medicine recommends that American and Canadian adults get between 40-65% of dietary energy from carbohydrates.

Answer 6

Energy and endurance are two of the main reasons.

Answer 7

As explained above, they are our little batteries of life.