Importance of Carbohydrates

· Carbohydrates are responsible for storing chemical energy in living organisms. You must hear all the time when athletes carbo-load before a game. This is so they can provide themselves with extra energy. They are also an important constituent for supporting tissues in plants and even in some animals

· Carbohydrate is the major source of the energy in the cell of all living beings

· Glucose is immediate and universal source of enzymes 1 gm of glucose on complete oxidation give 4.1 Kcal energy

· Carbohydrate serves as the storage form of food in animal and plants. Starch is storage form in plant and glycogen is storage form in animals.

· Some carbohydrate like hyaluronic acid serve as the lubricant of joint and found in synovial fluid.

· Heparin is a type of polysaccharide that prevents clotting of blood inside the blood vessel.

· Mucin is a carbohydrate that is found in mucus secretion. It helps in lubricants of the surface of a mucous membrane.

· Carbohydrate can bind with other biomolecules such as protein and lipid found glycoprotein and glycolipid respectively. These are important in body physiology.

· Some carbohydrate plays the structural role in many organisms such as cellulose in plants, chitin in the cell wall of fungi and exoskeleton of an insect.