Functions Of Carbohydrates

What Are The Functions of Carbohydrates?

Before you make any major changes to your diet, it is vital that you understand the functions of carbohydrates and other nutrients.  You may have heard of some of these new diets that involve reducing or altogether eliminating carbohydrates.  The proponents of these diets suggest that the best way to get rid of body fat is to eliminate carbs and let the natural bodily processes be your diet mechanism. 

This strategy for weight loss is not only wrong headed; it could have serious long-term negative effects on your health.  To understand why carbs are so important you must understand the functions of carbohydrates within the body.

The Functions of Carbohydrates and Fat

Of course, nothing in the body functions completely independently.  Functions are all related.  The functions of carbohydrates are intimately tied to other bodily functions.  Of all the functions of carbohydrates, the main one is to create an energy source for the body.  The body breaks down carbohydrates and uses it to supply energy for cells.  In fact, even though the body can use other types of cells as an energy source for its bodily cells, nerve cells require carbs to keep them functioning properly.

Where carbs get into trouble with weight loss plans is in their relationship to fat.  The body breaks carbs down into uncomplicated chunks, called glucose.  Glucose is a simple sugar that can easily be transformed into energy for the body.  However, when the body has too many of these glucose molecules it banks them for a rainy day in body’s major reservoir of energy, fat. 

Carbohydrates, Fat, and Protein

Some diet plans thus blame carbohydrates for creating fat.  These diet plans then advice that dieters cut carbohydrates out of their diets.  You can in fact get your body to make withdrawals from your fat bank by cutting out carbohydrates.  What happens when you cutout carbohydrates is that the body then turns to proteins to take over the functions of carbohydrates?  Instead of carbs turning into glucose and other forms of energy, proteins now suspend their normal muscle building activities and start to break down fat in order to release glucose.  Thus, the body gets its energy from its reserves rather than from new calories.

This process unfortunately has a series of negative effects and side effects.

Ketosis

The process by which proteins convert fats into energy is known as ketosis.  This process creates an energy source but it also raises the level of acidity in the blood and forces the liver to work overtime in order to get rid of the negative wastes produced by this process.  The strain that this puts on the liver can lead to damage if the dieter continues this process for too long or repeats this process too often.

Ketosis, in effect, reduces bodily fat by trying to get the body to do a process that is similar to that undergone in starvation—a somewhat auto-cannibalistic process by which you trick your body into eating itself in order to lose weight.

Other Dangers

Beyond the danger to your liver from the creation of difficult to remove ketones into the body, eliminating carbs also removes all the other positive functions of carbohydrates as well.  For example, not only are wastes produced by the extraction of glucose from fat, but the removed carbohydrates themselves are not there to help in liver functioning.  One form of carbohydrate is fiber and studies have shown that fiber can greatly aid in liver function and digestion.  Carbs also aid in digestion by producing a beneficial bacteria that actually helps in the digestive process.

Studies have also shown that carbohydrates are the only source of energy for powering the brain.  Nerve cells cannot take the type of energy that protein produces.  This may partly explain why people on Atkins type diets often complain about having difficulty concentrating.

Thus, put simply, one should avoid removing carbohydrates from your diet if you want have a healthy lifestyle.