Biology - Carbohydrates Class Notes Flashcards
What is food
It is any substance normally eaten or drunk by living things. Food usually comes from plants and animals. It is eaten by living things to provide energy and nutrition. Food contains the nutrients that living things need to build their body and produce energy.
Growing children need more food because it is required to make new cells and increase in size.
What are nutrients
Nutrients are all the useful substances with different purposes needed by living organisms. There are 7 different nutrients needed for a balanced diet:
carb, proteins, fats, minerals vitamins, fibre and water
What is nutrition
It is the obtaining of food/nutrients to provide energy and substances needed for growth and repair
(LITTLE EXTRA NOTE IN MY LAB COPY):
What are the different functions of the different types of food
Carbohydrates - we use this the most. it is needed to provide energy
Proteins - needed for growth and development
Fat - the layer under our skin that keeps us warm, insulates our body, reduces heat loss from our body.
Minerals, vitamins, fibre and water - they do not do much/anything to release energy but are needed in small quantities that are essential for our body.
Explain carbohydrates
We need carbohydrates to provide us with energy. All carbohydrates contain the elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They also include sugar and starches. The simplest carbohydrate/form of sugar is glucose. Glucose is a sugary sweet substance made by plants in photosynthesis. There are other sugars like fructose - which is present in fruits and makes them sweet and galactose - present in honey. Sucrose is found in regular sugar we use, lactose is the sugar found in milk and maltose.
There are 3 different types of carbohydrates:
Monosaccharides is the simplest sugar made of only one molecule.-e.g. glucose, fructose and galactose
Disaccharides are made of 2 molecules of sugar joined together and are slightly more complex - e.g. maltose, sucrose and lactose
Polysaccharides are the most complex carbohydrates* e.g. starch, glycogen and cellulose.
because they are made of many sugar molecules joined together (and their size is also increased). For example, potatoes, rice/grains, and bread contains a lot of starch and fibre. Flour is mainly made of starch.
Monosaccharides and disaccharides are all different types of sugars. Polysaccharides are starches and fibres.
REFER TO GOOGLE DOCS + LAB COPY FOR THE REST OF THE NOTES
