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Lessons from Jon Barron
Different Types of Carbohydrates    In this week's excerpt from Lessons from the Miracle Doctors, Jon Barron Barron elaborates on the different types of carbohydrates.
 "The key to how carbohydrates are used in the body is how quickly they break down in the digestive tract. This is largely determined by their fundamental structure. - Simple, or short-chain, carbohydrates don't need to be broken down at all. They are instantly available to the body as sugars. To say that all sugars are bad, as is often now stated, is an oversimplification. There are times that your body truly needs an instant influx of energy foods. And many sugars such as mannose play a key role in our immune systems. However, there is no question that, in general, a sustained high-level intake of sugars spikes insulin levels and eventually contributes significantly to major health problems, such as obesity, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and diabetes.
- Complex, or long-chain, carbohydrates cannot be utilized by the body until they are broken down. Complex carbohydrates consist of hundreds or thousands of sugar units linked together in single molecules. Theoretically, since they are not instantly available to the body, they should raise glucose levels more slowly and be healthier than simple sugars. But that is not always the case: some long-chain carbohydrates, such as potatoes, bananas, all refined grains (and many whole grains too), and maltodextrin (which is frequently added to processed foods) break down very quickly and are virtually indistinguishable from straight sugar in their effects on the body.
There are two things that prevent complex carbohydrates from doing this. First, fiber cannot be digested by humans and it has no calories because the body cannot absorb it. The more fiber present in a food, the more slowly the carbohydrates bound to that fiber break down. That's why high-fiber fruits and vegetables, such as broccoli, prunes, and berries, tend to be very low on the glycemic index. In general, these foods, although they are pure carbohydrates, can be eaten abundantly on any low-carbohydrate dietary program. Incidentally, not all fibers are the same, a distinction usually lost in translation. Some fibers (glucomannans) slow sugar absorption, whereas other fibers (beta-glucans) lower the risk of heart disease, and some merely provide bulk (wheat bran).
Second, if the simple sugars in a complex carbohydrate are not assembled in a straight line but rather include many branches, it slows the breakdown of the carbohydrate dramatically because the enzyme amylase does not work on branches. Examples of branched carbohydrates include the gums such as guar and xanthan.
Whichever form of carbohydrate you eat, if digested, it appears in the circulatory system as glucose, on its way to the cells where it is used for energy.
The key is how long that process takes. If it is spread out over several hours, there is no spike in blood sugar and insulin levels, the body does not store fat, and you get sustained energy over a prolonged period of time."
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