Carbohydrates: monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides
Chemical constituents of living cells · Biology
Study notes
Example: After you eat rice, starch (a polysaccharide of thousands of glucose units) is digested: enzymes clip it into maltose (disaccharide), then into glucose (monosaccharide), which blood carries to cells for energy. The fibre you cannot digest is cellulose — also glucose chains, but linked differently (β-1,4), so our enzymes cannot break it.