How sugar works

[benjo123456]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, but anyway.

If a person eats pure sugar, say in the form of a glucose tablet, I understand that it goes quickly into the blood stream. Presumaby the body has to do very little to process it, (although obviously insulin will rise.)

If you eat carbs from say rice, what is the process that the body has to do to break it down into glucose?

 

[uart]

Simple starches like those found in rice and bread are just polymers of glucose. Essentially that means they are chains of glucose molecules stacked one after another in a line. These are very readily broken down into glucose by digestive enzymes in our bodies, though the presence of fats and/or fibre eaten with these starches tends to slow down their absorption.

Interestingly insoluble fibre is also carbohydrate in nature, cellulose for example being a polymer of glucose almost exactly like starch but packed with the glucose molecules in alternating orientation, which for some reason makes them a lot tougher to break down so they pass though our digestive system basically unaltered (and so providing no calories).

In between those two extremes are soluble fibres found in many vegetables. While still carbohydrate in nature, these also can't be easily broken down into glucose. They can however be broken down into various usable products (mostly short chain fatty acids) by our gut bacteria in the large intestine. This makes them a really valuable food source, as they feed our gut bacteria and also provide a slow release source of energy for us that doesn't spike blood glucose levels.

 

[benjo123456]

Thanks

 

[Lamont D]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, but anyway.

If a person eats pure sugar, say in the form of a glucose tablet, I understand that it goes quickly into the blood stream. Presumaby the body has to do very little to process it, (although obviously insulin will rise.)

If you eat carbs from say rice, what is the process that the body has to do to break it down into glucose?

I'd thought I would chip in with, depending on how quickly you absorb glucose and those fats, that is how we find out how quickly we metabolize individual foods, by using our glucometer to take readings pre meal and then one hour and two hours initially, then later, a half hour from first bite. To find our spike.
That is why we need a food diary.
Also because after a while of low carb the amount of insulin, insulin resistance and how quickly our blood glucose levels spike will alter.

You body will change, because of the insulin response to whatever you eat.

Best wishes