 Welcome to the video, Dietary Manager Training, Digestion and Absorption of Carbohydrates. In this video, we'll follow the path of a carbohydrate food from consumption through digestion to absorption into the bloodstream. We'll go through examples to identify the main type of carbohydrate found in four different foods. The name, purpose, and function of the organs involved in the processes of digestion and absorption will be identified. A carbohydrate is a group of molecules made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Carbohydrates are found in plants and milk. A monosaccharide is the simplest unit of a carbohydrate. Monosaccharides contain one sugar unit. The root word mono means one and saccharide means sugar. There are three different monosaccharides. They are glucose, fructose, and galactose. Glucose is found in sweet fruits such as berries and grapes. Fructose is found in honey and ripe fruits. Galactose is found only in a combined state with glucose in milk. Monosaccharides may combine to form disaccharides. A disaccharide contains two sugar units. Di means two. There are three different disaccharides. They are sucrose, which is glucose and fructose. Sucrose is the familiar table sugar. Maltose, which is glucose and glucose. Maltose is found in beer, germinating seeds, and malted food products. And lactose, which is glucose plus galactose. Lactose is the sugar in milk. Both the monosaccharides and disaccharides are considered simple sugars or simple carbohydrates. A healthy person may consume up to 10% of his or her daily calories from simple carbohydrates. Polysaccharides are known as complex carbohydrates because they contain many monosaccharides. Poly means many. Polysaccharides can contain thousands of monosaccharides. They may be arranged as long chains or branched chains of glucose. The polysaccharides of nutritional significance include starch and fiber. Starch is found in barley, corn, oats, rice, rye, wheat, potatoes, and dried peas and beans. The starch from these food sources provide the human body with energy. Fiber is found only in plant food sources. It provides support to the plant's stem, leaves, and seeds. Fiber is also made up of chains of glucose units. Unlike starch, these glucose units cannot be digested or broken apart by enzymes in the digestive system. The fiber passes through the digestive system nearly unchanged and is necessary for proper bowel function. Let's identify the main type of carbohydrate in each of the following foods. Corn contains the polysaccharides starch and fiber. And orange gets its sweet flavor from simple carbohydrates, mostly fructose. Sunflower seeds are a source of fiber, which is one type of polysaccharide. Milk contains the disaccharide lactose. Galactose is made up of the monosaccharides glucose and galactose. Monosaccharides and disaccharides are considered simple carbohydrates. Digestion of carbohydrates begins in the mouth, where the teeth mechanically break down food into smaller particles. Chemical digestion begins in the mouth when the enzyme amylase starts breaking the chemical bonds between long chains of glucose or starch. As the chemical bonds between the glucose molecules are broken, the long chain, the polysaccharide starch, becomes many shorter chains of glucose. When the food is swallowed, the high acidity of the stomach deactivates amylase and stops any further digestion action by that enzyme. The next stop is the small intestine. Here, enzymes secreted by the pancreas and small intestine break down the polysaccharides and disaccharides into monosaccharides. Monosaccharides are required for absorption. Now that the polysaccharides have been broken down into monosaccharides, absorption can take place. Absorption is defined as the process by which the end the products of digestion, monosaccharides in this example, are taken into the lymphatic or circulatory, or blood system, for distribution to the body's cells. The body's cells then use these nutrients for energy, maintenance, and repair and growth of the body. The small intestine is lined with finger-like projections called villi. The villi greatly increase the surface area available for absorption. If the villi in your small intestine were laid out flat, they would cover the size of a baseball infield, or about 675 square feet. A complex process allows the monosaccharides to pass through the cell walls of the villi. There, they are picked up by the bloodstream and carried to the body's cells, where they will eventually be used for energy. Not all carbohydrates are absorbed in the small intestine. Fiber cannot be broken down by enzymes in the human body. Fiber moves into the large intestine, or the colon. Some of the fiber is broken down by bacteria that live in the large intestine and is then absorbed. However, most of the fiber takes up water in the colon, thus helping to push the feces through the colon so they can be expelled. Congratulations! You have completed the video, Dietary Manager Training, Digestion and Absorption of Carbohydrates.