cfiles side notes

[coach hale]

A few of my side notes when writing The Carbohydrate Files, might be interesting if you like technical scientific stuff if not just ignore this post

Cellulose- The glycosidic bonds in cellulose are not a-1,4 linkages. That is because the oxygen that's attached to the #1 carbon is in the beta position, but it's still hooked up to the #4 carbon of the second ring. Consequently, the glycosidic bonds in cellulose are referred to as being b-1,4 linkages. Cellulose is also not a reducing sugar. It can be hydrolyzed to form glucose, but not by the digestive enzymes in humans (possibly partly digested to form short chain fatty acids , thus scientist derived cal values of 1.5 - 2 cals per gram of fiber)

It turns out that there are different kinds of starch, one is amylose and another is amylopectin.

Amylose consists of glucose rings hooked together using a-1,4 linkages. An amylose molecule will have hundreds of glucose rings hooked together in this way.

Amylopectin has chains that are branched in this way. It has a-1,4 linkages, but it also has a-1,6 linkages where the a-1-OH of one ring links to the #6 OH in another ring. Amylopectin molecules can contain thousands of glucose rings hooked together in this way.

Thanks
Coach Hale
www.maxcondition.com

[Leigh P.]

While there is nothing incorrect about your post, is there a point you are trying to raise here that I am missing? I am trying to type this without sounding like an ass I swear.

Were you looking to start some talk about starch and digestion?