Carbohydrates play quite a few roles in the human body, but perhaps none as important as being an energy source for all cells. All cells in the body will use glucose to some degree. Meanwhile, cells of the central nervous system as well as red blood cells and certain other types of cells will exclusively use glucose under normal situations. Carbohydrates also provide a limited yet readily available energy store called glycogen. As an energy source, carbohydrate provides 4 calories per gram.
Carbohydrates are also a modest yet vital component of cell membranes. Certain carbohydrates are also key portions of indispensable molecules. For example, molecules such as DNA and RNA contain the carbohydrate ribose. Ribose is a monosaccharide that can be made in our cells from glucose. Very complex carbohydrates called glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are important in connective tissue, such as in our joints. The GAGs include chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid, which are popular nutrition supplements for joint inflammatory disorders. We’ll spend more time discussing arthritis and nutrition in Chapter 12.
Carbohydrate serves as energy for all cells in our body and is used tomake structural molecules, such as those found in joints.
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