Carbohydrates

Abstract

© 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Carbohydrates are the primary macronutrients that humans consume in large quantities in their daily diet to provide the energy needed in order to support various metabolic processes in the human body. Carbohydrates are found in a wide variety of foods, mostly originating from plant tissues. Depending on the type of dietary carbohydrate and its structure, each one can exhibit varying digestibility properties in the normal digestion system of humans, from rapid digestion to indigestibility. Carbohydrates that demonstrate rapid digestibility, such as glucose and starch, are readily utilized for metabolism; indigestible carbohydrates, such as plant cell wall non-starch polysaccharides, resistant starch, and some oligosaccharides, are fermented in the large intestine after undergoing digestion and absorption in the small intestine. Adequate consumption of these two types of dietary carbohydrates is encouraged as each of them has been identified in offering specific physiological properties that cannot be replaced by other macronutrients. Meanwhile, food processing has been recognized to alter the rate and extent of carbohydrate digestion by facilitating the release of carbohydrates from specific compartments of the plant as well as modifying the physicochemical and structural characteristics of the native form of carbohydrates. Consequently, food processing can influence the overall distribution or composition of carbohydrates and the way they are hydrolyzed during digestion. The digestibility properties of dietary carbohydrates from unprocessed and processed plant foods can ultimately affect their bioaccessibility and bioavailability, which relates to the degree of their liberation from the plant matrix, their utilization, and biological functions upon metabolism. This chapter describes comprehensively how (conventional and nonthermal) processing is affecting the bioavailability and bioaccessibility of carbohydrates.

Source or Periodical Title

Innovative Thermal and Non-Thermal Processing, Bioaccessibility and Bioavailability of Nutrients and Bioactive Compounds

Page

171-206

Document Type

Article

Subject

Carbohydrate, Dietary fiber, Digestion, Gastrointestinal (gi) health, Glucose, Glycemic response, High pressure processing (hpp), Pulsed electric fields (pef), Starch, Starch gelatinization

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