Carbohydrates

and Lipids

Modnosaccarides: sugars that consist of single-sub units (monomers).

Consist of atoms of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen
Glucose - provides energy in aerobic respira?on and and a by-product of photosynthesis
Galactose - sweetener used in foods
Fructose - fruit sugar

Disaccharides: sugars (a carbohydrate), that consist of pairs of monosaccharides linked together by

condensa?on reac?ons, water molecules being removed.
Glucose, galactose and fructose form the following disaccharides:
Maltose - malt sugar found in barely - consists of 2 glucose molecules
Lactose - sugar found in milk
Sucrose - transports sugar found in plants

Polysaccharides: cellulose, glycogen and starch are all composed of glucose.

Cellulose: unbranched polymer of of B-D glucose. Monomers are in an alterna?ng structure,
making the polymer straight, rather than curved.
Starch: a polymer of alpha-D glucose with all glucose sub-units in the same orienta?on, giving
the polymer a helical shape.
Two forms of starch, which include:
Amylose: only 1,4 linkages, unbranched
Amylopec6n: 1,6 linkages, a branched molecule
Starch is used by plants to store glucose as an insoluble form.
Glycogen: a branched polymer of alpha-D glucose. Glycogen is used by mammals to store
glucose in liver and muscle cells. Insoluble in nature and can be stored in large amounts.

Lipids

Carbon compounds made by living organisms that are en?rely hydrophobic

(insoluble in water)
Triglycerides: made from three fa9y acids and one glycerol by
condensa?on reac?ons.
Have three carbon tails
Fats and oils are triglycerides
Phospholipids: only two faQy acids linked to glycerol, with a phosphate
group instead of the the third faQy acid.
Only party hydrophobic
Steroids: similar structure of four fused rings in their molecule
Cholesterol, progesterone, estrogen and testosterone

Molecules can be iden?ed as lipids if they two or three hydrocarbon

gains or the quadruple ring structure of steroids.
Hydrocarbon chains are oUen shown simply as zigzag lines in diagrams of
lipids
Rings of carbon atoms are shown as hexagon or pentagons.

Types of faQy acids

Saturated: all carbon atoms are connected by single covalent bonds so the number of hydrogen atoms
bonded to the carbons cannot be increased.
Unsaturated: contain one or more double bonds between carbon atoms in the
chain, so more hydrogen could be bonded to the carbons if a double bond was
replaced by a single bond.

Mono-unsaturated: Only one double bond.

Poly-unsaturated: two or more double bonds.

Cis unsaturated: hydrogen atoms are bonded to carbon atoms on the same side
of a double bond.
Trans unsaturated: hydrogen atoms are bonded to carbon atoms on opposite
sides of a double bond.

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Energy Storage
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Fats or oils (lipids) or glycogen/starch (carbohydrates) are used as energy storage by living
organisms
In plants the seeds store starch or oil
In humans glycogen is stored in the liver and muscles store fat in adipose ?ssue

Advantages in using lipids rather than carbohydrates for long-term energy storage:
Energy released in cell respira?on per gram of lipids is twice the amount released from a gram
of carbohydrate. Each gram of carbohydrates stores about 4 calories of energy, whereas each
gram of lipid stores about 9 calories.
The mass advantage of lipids is greater as it forms pure droplets of fat with no water. Lipids
serve as a more compact way to store energy.
Fats provide the body with thermal insula?on and protec?on for organs.
As a result, your body tends to use fat to store energy over long periods of ?me and uses
carbohydrates to store energy short-term.

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Body Mass index
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Body Mass Index (BMI) is used as a screening tool to iden?fy possible weight problems, but it is not a
diagnos?c tool. Further assessments are needed, like skin fold thickness, evalua?ons of diet, physical
ac?vity and family history.

In some parts of the world, food supplies are insucient or unevenly distributed, so many people are
underweight.
In other parts of the world, being underweight is more likely to be caused by the psychological
condi?on anorexia nervosa. The condi?on involved voluntary starva?on and loss of body mass.
Obesity is an increasing problem in some countries. Obesity increases the risk of condi?ons such as
coronary heart disease and Type II diabetes. It reduces life expectancy and is increasing the overall cost
of health care.

BMI EQUATION: mass in kilograms / (height in meters)2

Health Risks of trans-fat and saturated faQy acids

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A common concern has found about fats and their link to coronary heart disease. Coronary heart disease is
where the coronary arteries become par?ally blocked with deposits of fat, leading to blood clots and heart
aQacks.

A posi6ve correla?on has been found between saturated faQy acid intake and the rates of CHD, but this
correla?on does not necessary imply as being the cause.
There are popula?ons around the world where people consume high amounts of saturated fats but have no
CHD. Genes is perhaps a greater cause/factor.

Another posi6ve correla?on has been found between the consump?on of trans-fat and rates of CHD.
Pa?ents who died from CHD, the deposits of fat in the arteries have been found to have a high
concentra?on of trans-fat giving evidence of a greater link.