Which of these has the least carbohydrates? This roll of bread? This bowl of rice? Or this can of soda? It's a trick question. Although they may differ in fats, vitamins, and other nutritional content, when it comes to carbs, they're pretty much the same. So what exactly does that mean for your diet? First of all, carbohydrate is the nutritional category for sugars and molecules that your body breaks down to make sugars. Carbohydrates can be simple or complex depending on their structure. This is a simple sugar, or monosaccharide. Glucose, fructose, and galactose are all simple sugars. Link two of them together, and you've got a disaccharide, lactose, maltose, or sucrose. Complex carbohydrates, on the other hand, have three or more simple sugars strung together. Complex carbohydrates with three to ten linked sugars are oligosaccharides. Those with more than ten are polysaccharides. During digestion, your body breaks down those complex carbohydrates into their monosaccharide building blocks, which your cells can use for energy. So when you eat any carbohydrate-rich food, the sugar level in your blood, normally about a teaspoon, goes up. But your digestive tract doesn't respond to all carbohydrates the same. Consider starch and fiber, both polysaccharides, both derived from plants, both composed of hundreds to thousands of monosaccharides joined together, but they're joined together differently, and that changes the effect they have on your body. In starches, which plants mostly store for energy in roots and seeds, glucose molecules are joined together by alpha linkages, most of which can be easily cleaved by enzymes in your digestive tract. But in fiber, the bonds between monosaccharide molecules are beta bonds, which your body can't break down. Fiber can also trap some starches, preventing them from being cleaved, resulting in something called resistant starch. So foods high in starch, like crackers and white bread, are digested easily, quickly releasing a whole bunch of glucose into your blood, exactly what would happen if you drank something high in glucose, like soda. These foods have a high glycemic index, the amount that a particular food raises the sugar level in your blood. Soda and white bread have a similar glycemic index because they have a similar effect on your blood sugar. But when you eat foods high in fiber, like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, those indigestible beta bonds slow the release of glucose into the blood. Those foods have a lower glycemic index, and foods like eggs, cheese, and meats have the lowest glycemic index. When sugar moves from the digestive tract to the blood stream, your body kicks into action to transfer it into your tissues where it can be processed and used for energy. Insulin, a hormone synthesized in the pancreas, is one of the body's main tools for sugar management. When you eat and your blood sugar rises, insulin is secreted into the blood. It prompts your muscle and fat cells to let glucose in and jump starts the conversion of sugar to energy. The degree to which a unit of insulin lowers the blood sugar helps us understand something called insulin sensitivity. The more a given unit of insulin lowers blood sugar, the more sensitive you are to insulin. If insulin sensitivity goes down, that's known as insulin resistance. The pancreas still sends out insulin, but cells, especially muscle cells, are less and less responsive to it, so blood sugar fails to decrease, and blood insulin continues to rise. Chronically consuming a lot of carbohydrates may lead to insulin resistance, and many scientists believe that insulin resistance leads to a serious condition called metabolic syndrome. That involves a constellation of symptoms, including high blood sugar, increased waist circumference, and high blood pressure. It increases the risk of developing conditions, like cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes. And its prevalence is rapidly increasing all over the world. As much as 32% of the population in the U.S. has metabolic syndrome. So let's get back to your diet. Whether your food tastes sweet or not, sugar is sugar, and too many carbs can be a problem. So maybe you'll want to take a pass on that pasta sushi roll pita burrito donut burger sandwich.
Šta od ovoga ima najmanje ugljenih hidrata? Ovo parče hleba? Ova činija pirinča? Ili ova limenka gaziranog pića? To je trik pitanje. Iako se razlikuju u mastima, vitaminima i drugim nutrijentima, kada su u pitanju ugljeni hidrati, skoro pa su jednaki. Šta to onda znači za vašu ishranu? Pre svega, ugljeni hidrati su nutritivna kategorija za šećere i molekule koje vaše telo razbija da dobije šećere. Ugljeni hidrati po strukturi mogu biti prosti ili složeni. Ovo je prost šećer ili monosaharid. Glukoza, fruktoza i galaktoza su sve prosti šećeri. Povežite dva od njih i dobijate disaharid, laktozu, maltozu ili sukrozu. Složeni ugljeni hidrati, sa druge strane, imaju tri ili više prostih šećera koji su međusobno povezani. Složeni ugljeni hidrati sa tri do deset povezanih šećera su oligosaharidi. Oni sa više od deset su polisaharidi. Tokom varenja, vaše telo razbija te složene ugljene hidrate u gradivne materijale - monosaharide, koje vaše ćelije mogu da koriste za energiju. Kada jedete hranu koja je bogata ugljenim hidratima, nivo šećera u vašoj krvi se penje, a obično je oko jedne kašičice. Ali vaš probavni trakt ne odgovara isto na sve ugljene hidrate. Uzmite u obzir skrob i vlakna, polisaharide, dobijaju se iz biljaka i sastoje se iz stotina do hiljada spojenih monosaharida, ali spojeni su drugačije, i to menja efekat koji imaju na vaše telo. Kod skroba, koga biljke skladište uglavnom zbog energije, u korenu i semenu, molekuli glukoze spojeni su kroz alfa veze, većinu kojih enzimi u vašem probavnom traktu mogu lakoda razbiju Ali kod vlakana, veze između molekula monosaharida su beta veze, koje vaše telo ne može da razbije. Vlakna takođe mogu zarobiti nešto skroba, sprečavajući da se razbije, što za posledicu ima nešto što se zove otpornim skrobom. Namirnice sa dosta skroba, poput krekera i belog hleba, lako se vare, brzo ispuštaju hrpu glukoze u vaš krvotok, kao što bi se desilo, ako biste popili nešto sa dosta glukoze, kao gazirani sok. Ove namirnice imaju visok glikemijski indeks, što je količina šećera u krvi koju podiže neka određena namirnica. Gazirani sokovi i beli hleb imaju sličan glikemijski indeks jer imaju sličan efekat na šećer u krvi. Ali kada jedete hranu sa dosta vlakana, poput povrća, voća i integralnih žitarica, te nesvarive beta veze usporavaju ispuštanje glukoze u krv. Ove namirnice imaju niži glikemijski indeks, i namirnice poput jaja, sira i mesa imaju najniži glikemijski indeks. Kada šećer kreće od probavnog trakta u krvotok, vaše telo kreće u akciju da ga prebaci u vaša tkiva gde se može obraditi i iskoristiti za energiju. Insulin, hormon koji se stvara u pankreasu, jedan je od glavnih telesnih mehanizama za upravljanje šećerom. Kada jedete i vaš šećer u krvi raste, insulin se luči u krv. On nalaže vašim ćelijama u mišićima i mastima da prihvate glukozu i pokreće pretvaranje šećera u energiju. Stepen do kog jedinica insulina snižava šećer u krvi, pomaže nam da razumemo nešto što se naziva osetljivošću na insulin. Što više neka jedinica insulina smanjuje šećer u krvi, to ste osetljiviji na insulin. Ukoliko se smanji osetljivost na insulin, to se naziva otpornošću na insulin. Pankreas još uvek šalje insulin, ali ćelije, naročito one u mišićima, sve manje odgovaraju na njega, tako da se šećer u krvi ne smanjuje i insulin u krvi raste. Hronična konzumacija velike količine ugljenih hidrata može dovesti do otpornosti na insulin i mnogi naučnici veruju da otpornost na insulin dovodi do ozbiljne bolesti zvane metabolički sindrom. Ona uključuje niz simptoma, uključujući visok šećer u krvi, povećan obim struka i visok krvni pritisak. Ona povećava rizik od dobijanja raznih bolesti, poput kardiovaskularnih bolesti i dijabetesa tipa 2. Ova bolest brzo se širi svetom. Skoro 32% stanovništva SAD ima metabolički sindrom. Vratimo se vašoj ishrani. Bez obzira da li je vaša hrana slatka, šećer je šećer i previše ugljenih hidrata može biti problem. Možda ćete ipak propustiti taj suši-pita-burito-krofna-burger sendvič od testenine.