February 1, 2010

Starches

Starches
Starches are carbohydrates that are storage materials in the seed and roots of many plants. Corn, wheat, rice and other grains, as potatoes and other rootlike vegetables, contain significant amount of starch.

Starch is, made up of many units of glucose linked together in different forms. In the intestine, starch is broken down top glucose and utilized of energy.

Cooling (moist heat) causes starch grains to swell and rupture, thus converting starch to a form that is readily digested.

In the body, much of the glucose may be utilized directly as a source of energy, but some of it is converted into fat, the muscles utilizing fatty acids indirectly as fuel for energy.

Excess carbohydrates, not required for energy, when ingested (eaten) will be stored in the body as fat.
Starches