AQA GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition: Revision Guide

What you must know about carbohydrates In your answers, you need to know how to explain: Further information you can add to extend your answers: Key learning: CARBOHYDRATES What they are and what they are made of • Carbohydrate is a macronutrient which is found in plant foods • Carbohydrate is made by plants during photosynthesis : • There are two groups of carbohydrates: − sugars − complex carbohydrates Sugars: • Monosaccharides : glucose, fructose, galactose • Disaccharides : sucrose, lactose, maltose Complex carbohydrates: • Polysaccharides : − starch − pectin − dextrin − dietary fibre (also called non- starch polysaccharide – NSP) − glycogen (made by animals and humans in their bodies) What carbohydrates do in the body (their functions) • Main source of energy • Dietary fibre helps the body get rid of waste products • Glycogen is stored in the liver and muscles for instant source of energy (e.g. running) • Carbohydrates are broken down in the body to glucose which is used by body cells for energy Which foods give us carbohydrates (sources of carbohydrate) • Glucose: ripe fruits and vegetables (e.g. apples, onions, beetroot, parsnip, sweet potato) • Fructose: fruits, vegetables and honey • Galactose: milk from mammals • Maltose: barley, a syrup (malt extract), added to breakfast cereals, biscuits, hot drink powders, confectionery (sweets) • Sucrose: ‘sugar’ from sugar cane and sugar beet and used in cooking and many processed foods, drinks and confectionery • Lactose: milk and milk products • Starch: cereals (e.g. wheat, rice, oats, barley, maize [corn]), cereal products (e.g. breakfast cereals, pasta, bread, cakes, pastry, biscuits); starchy vegetables (e.g. potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, parsnip, pumpkin, butternut squash, peas, beans, lentils); seeds, quinoa • High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is used as a sweetener in many processed foods and fizzy soft drinks • Sugars found naturally in fruits, vegetables and milk (not added to them) are intrinsic sugars 3 Carbohydrates Book-link: 1.1.3 Carbohydrates, pages 16–21 carbohydrates water oxygen light carbon dioxide 331 Chapter 1: Nutrients : Carbohydrates