Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the body. The carbohydrates that we eat, such as bread and potatoes, contain long chains of sugar molecules bonded together.
Long chains of sugar molecules bonded together are called polysaccharides. When you break the word polysaccharide down, saccharide means sugar, and poly means many. The word polysaccharide literally means “many sugars.” Our cells cannot use polysaccharides for energy conversion. Instead, polysaccharides must be broken down into a simple sugar called monosaccharide. Mono means one. A monosaccharide is a carbohydrate made up of a single molecule of sugar. The most common monosaccharide is glucose. Fructose, the sugar in fruit, and galactose, the sugar in milk are also examples of monosaccharides.
Glucose is the sugar used by cells to convert energy into usable forms for organisms during cellular respiration. The formula for cellular respiration is shown below.
How does the digestive system break down the polysaccharides into monosaccharides?