Complex carbohydrates are large structures including oligosaccharides like raffinose and polysaccharides including starch and fibers. Subscribe to Nourishable at youtube.com/c/Nourishable

This video is part 2 of the Carbohydrate Foundations module within a lecture series on the nutrition science of macronutrients.

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Macronutrients Lecture playlist:    • Macronutrients Lectures  

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References
Chapter 5 Carbohydrates in Wardlaw’s Perspectives in Nutrition, 2019 (Editors: Byrd-Bredbenner, Moe, Berning and Kelley, 11th edition)
Chapter 2 - Carbohydrates in Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 2014 (Editors: Ross, Caballero, Cousins, Tucker and Ziegler; 11 edition)

Complex carbohydrates are composed of chains with 3 or more monosaccharide building blocks attached by glycosidic bonds. Oligosaccharides are 3 to 10 monosaccharides long. Many types of oligosaccharides are referred to as flatulent sugars because they contain glycosidic bonds that humans don’t have the enzymes to digest, but microbes do - and gas is generated in the process of microbial metabolism. Examples of oligosaccharides are inulin from chicory root, stachyose in legumes, and raffinose in cruciferous vegetables. Polysaccharides are 10+ monosaccharides long. Some polysaccharides are digestible like starch because humans have the enzymes to hydrolyze the bonds between the glucose units. Starch comes in a long linear form called amylose which can be hydrolyzed by the enzyme amylase. Starch also comes in the branched form of amylopectin, which can be hydrolyzed by the enzyme dextrinase. Only the terminal ends of starch can be hydrolyzed by enzymes. Glycogen is the storage form of carbohydrate in animals and it is highly branched. Fiber is also a polysaccharide containing many monosaccharides bound together, however they contain glycosidic bonds that humans lack the enzymes to digest. Some types of microbes contain the enzymes to digest fiber.