Chapter 4
Disaccharides
Pairs of single sugars linked together. Include: Lactose, maltose and sucrose.
Photosynthesis
The process by which green plants make carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water using green pigment chlorophyll to capture the sun's energy.
Hypoglycemia
an abnormally low blood glucose concentration, often accompanied by symptoms such as anxiety, rapid heartbeat, and sweating.
Appendicitis
Inflammation and/or infection of the appendix, the sac protruding from the intestine.
Fasting Plasma Glucose Test
A blood test that measures current blood glucose in a person who has not eaten or consumed caloric beverages for at least 8 hours; the test can detect both diabetes and pre diabetes. Plasma is the fluid part of the whole blood.
HbA 1c Test
A blood test that measures hemoglobin molecules with glucose attached to them. The test reflects blood glucose control over the previous few months.
Insulin Resistance
A condition in which a normal or high level of circulating insulin produces a less-than-normal response in muscles, liver, and adipose tissues; thought to be a metabolic consequence of obesity.
Sucrose
A disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose; sometimes known as table, beet, or can sugar and, often as simply sugar.
Lactose
A disaccharide composed of glucose and galactose; sometimes known as milk sugar.
Maltose
A disaccharide composed of two glucose units; sometimes known as malt sugar.
Auto immune disorder
A disease in which the body develops antibodies to its own proteins and then proceeds to destroy cells containing these proteins. Examples are type 1 diabetes and lupus.
Glycogen
A highly branched polysaccharide that is made and stored by liver and muscle tissues of human beings and animals as a storage form of glucose. Glycogen is not a significant food source of carbohydrate and is not counted as one of the complex carbohydrates in foods.
Insulin
A hormone secreted by the pancreas in response to a high blood glucose concentration. It assists cells in drawing glucose from the blood.
Glucagon
A hormone secreted by the pancreas that stimulates the liver to release glucose into the blood when blood glucose concentrations dip.
Glycemic Load (GL)
A mathematical expression of both the glycemic index and the carbohydrate content of a food, meal, or diet.
Fructose
A monosaccharide sometimes known as fruit sugar
Galactose
A monosaccharide; part of the disaccharide Lactose
Starch
A plant polysaccharide composed of glucose. After cooking, starch is highly digestible by humans; raw starch often resists digestion.
Glycemic Index (GI)
A ranking of foods according to their potential for raising blood glucose relative to a standard food such as glucose.
Glucose
A single sugar used in both plants and animal tissues for energy; sometimes known as blood sugar or dextrose.
High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
A widely used commercial caloric sweetener made by adding enzymes to cornstarch to convert a portion of its glucose molecules into sweet tasting fructose.
Ketone bodies
Acidic, water soluble compounds that arise during breakdown of fat when carbohydrates is not available.
Ketosis
An undesirable high concentration of ketone bodies, such as acetone, in the blood or urine.
Polysaccharides
Another term for complex carbohydrates; compounds composed of long strands of glucose units linked together
Carbohydrates
Compounds composed of single or multiple sugars. The name means "carbon and water," and a chemical shorthand for carbohydrate is CHO, signifying Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen.
Prediabetes
Condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes; a major risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Dental Caries
Decay of the teeth
Soluble fibers
Food components that readily dissolve in water and often impart gummy or gel-like characteristics to food. An example is pectin from fruit, which is used to thicken jams.
whole Grains
Grains or foods made from them that contain all the essential parts of naturally occurring nutrients of the entire grain seed (except the inedible husk).
Viscous
Having a sticky, gummy, or gel-like consistency.
Lactose intolerance
Impaired ability to digest lactose due to reduced amounts of the enzyme lactase.
Dialysis
In kidney disease, treatment of the blood to remove toxic substances or metabolic wastes; more properly, hemodialysis, meaning "dialysis of the blood."
Complex Carbohydrates
Long Chains of sugar units arranged to form starch or fiber; also called polysaccharides.
Diabetes
Metabolic diseases characterized by elevated blood glucose and inadequate or ineffective insulin, which impair a person's ability to regulate blood glucose. Teh technical name is Diabetes mellitus.
Chelating agents
Molecules that attract or bind with other molecules and therefore useful in either preventing or promoting movement of substances from place to place.
Diverticula
Sacs or pouches that balloon out of the intestinal wall, caused by weakening of the muscle layers that encase the intestine. THe painful inflammation of one or more of the diverticula is known as diverticulitis.
Sugars
Simple carbohydrates; that is, molecules of either single sugar unites or pairs of those sugar units bonded together. By common usage sugar most often refers to sucrose.
Monosaccharides
Single sugar units. Include: glucose, fructose and galactose.
Granules
Small grains. Starch granules are packages of starch molecules. Various plant species make starch granules of varying shapes.
Sugar alcohols
Sugar like compounds in the chemical family alcohol derived from fruits or manufactured from sugar dextrose or other carbohydrates; sugar alcohols are absorbed more slowly than sugars, are metabolized differently and do not elevate the risk of dental caries. Also called polyols
Nonnutritive sweeteners
Sugar substitues that provide negligible, if any energy.
Added Sugars
Sugars and syrups added to a food for any purpose, such as to add sweetness or bulk or to aid in browning (baked goods) Also called carbohydrate sweeteners, they include concentrated fruit juice, glucose, fructose, HFCS, sucrose, and other sweet carbohydrates.
Simple carbohydrates
Sugars, including both single sugar unites and linked pairs of sugar units. The basic sugar unite is a molecule containing six carbon atoms, together with oxygen and hydrogen atoms.
Hemorrhoids
Swollen, hardened varicose veins in the rectum, usually caused by the pressure resulting from constipation.
Protein-sparing action
The action of carbohydrate and fat in providing energy that allows protein to be used for purposes it alone can serve.
Chlorophyll
The green pigment of plants that captures energy from sunlight for use in photosynthesis.
Fibers
The indigestible parts of plant foods, largely non-starch polysaccharides that are not digested by human digestive enzymes, although some are digested by resident bacteria of the colon. Fibers include cellulose, hemicelluloses, pectins, gums, mucilages and a few nonpolysaccharides such as lignin.
Lactase
The intestinal enzyme that splits the disaccharide lactose to monosaccharide during digestion.
Insoluble Fibers
The tough, fibrous structures of fruits, vegetables and grains; indigestible food components that do not dissolve in water.
Type 2 Diabetes
The type of diabetes in which the pancreas makes plenty of insulin but the body's cells resist insulin's action; often diagnosed in adulthood. formerly called adult-onset or non-insulin-dependent diabetes.
Type 1 Diabetes
The type of diabetes in which the pancreas produces no or very little insulin; often diagnosed in childhood, although some cases arise in adulthood. Formerly called juvenile-onset or insulin-dependent diabetes.
Constipation
difficult, incomplete, or infrequent bowel movements associated with discomfort in passing dry, hardened feces from the body.
Fermentation
the anaerobic breakdown of carbohydrates by microorganisms that releases small organic compounds along with carbon dioxide and energy.
resistant starch
the fraction of starch in a food that is digested slowly, or not all all, by human enzymes.