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• April 20, 2024

Are carbohydrates good or bad? Although you may not believe it, there are different types of carbohydrates that fulfill a specific function in your body. The important thing is to know how to choose the right ones, that is, those that do not favor the accumulation of fat in the body.

All carbohydrates are made up of structural units of sugars, which can be classified according to the number of sugar units that are combined in a molecule.

For example, glucose, fructose and galactose are sugars made up of a single unit (sugar), and are known as "monosaccharides".

In the meantime, the sugars constituted by two units are called "disaccharides", such as "table sugar" (sucrose) and milk sugar (lactose).

Carbohydrates in food

In all foods there are different types of carbohydrates, some of them are shown in the following table.

CLASS OR TYPE

EXAMPLES

Monosaccharides

Glucose, fructose, galactose

Disaccharides

Sucrose, lactose, maltose

Polyols

Isomaltol, maltitol, sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol

Oligosaccharides

Fructooligosaccharides, maltooligosaccharides

Starch-type polysaccharides

Amylose, amylopectin, maltodextrins

Polysaccharides not similar to starch (dietary fiber)

Cellulose, pectins, hemicelluloses, gums, inulin