Simple vs Complex Carbs

[EZ rider]

I was wondering if there are any advantages/disadvantages to eating one type of carbohydrate over the other ?

[Aleesha Sattva]

odd question for you to ask my friend. but... i did a little google search for ya and found a link:

here (http://www.thedietchannel.com/Good-Carbs-Vs-Bad-Carbs-How-To-Pick-The-Best-Carbs-For-Your-Diet.htm)

simple carb is in naturally occurring sugar.
complex is in fruit and veggies.


Be a smart consumer: choose complex carbs over simple carbs

[Cerellia]

Are the glucose and fructose in fruits not simple carbs? And complex carbs would be more like starches. I don't really get why you should prefere the complex ones unless you have blood sugar issues.

[Hina]

Hmm that article is a bit misleading, fructose is a monosaccharide, aka simple sugar. The fact that your body has to convert fructose to glucose in order to be able to use as fuel doesn't make it a complex carbohydrate (polysaccharide).
Monosaccharides are: glucose, fructose, galactose, xylose, ribose/desoxyribose.
They are the building blocks of disaccharides and polysaccharides.
Dissaccharides include: sucrose (table sugar), lactose (found in milk) and two more that arises at the disassembly of starches (maltose) and fibre (cellobiose).
Polysaccharides include: storage polysaccharides are starch and glycogen, and structural polysaccharides are cellulose and chitin.
The formation of starches are the way that plants store glucose.
Glycogen is stored in liver and muscles of animals.
The structural component of plants are formed primarily from cellulose.

The thing is, that although fruits have simple sugars in it, they not by all means cause a blood sugar spike because of the fibre they come with that slows down the absorption, contrary to that of sucrose (table sugar).
And since polysaccharides are long chains of sugars, it takes longer for the body to break down, resulting in a more steady blood sugar level.

[Tsurugi_Oni]

Complex carbs are found in fruit if you count things like pumpkin or acorn squash. But when you think of the typical "fruit" it's pretty much always going to be simple carbs. Simple carbs are a ton easier to digest but you need a ton more to fill you up.
Naturally people can only efficiently digest the simple carbs without cooking.