Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are organic compounds built from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, historically viewed as 'hydrates of carbon' because one molecule of water combines with each carbon atom to give the general formula CH2O, repeated n times to give (CH2O)n, where n typically ranges from 3 to 7. This is why carbohydrates are also called saccharides. In everyday language, the word 'sugar' usually refers to a simple carbohydrate - a monosaccharide or disaccharide - that tastes sweet and dissolves readily in water. Carbohydrates are classified by size into monosaccharides (single sugar units), oligosaccharides (2-10 linked units) and po …