Carbohydrates are one of the major components of food, like sugars, fibres and starches.
Chemically, carbohydrates are large macromolecules consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O). Their general formula is Cx(H2O)y.
Carbohydrates are classified into different groups:
Monosaccharides are carbohydrates possessing a single carbon chain. Disaccharides and trisaccharids refer to molecules containing two or
three such monosaccharide units joined together by acetal or ketal
linkages. Oligosaccharides refer to larger aggregates,
with up to ten monosaccharide units, while polysaccharide are aggregtaes with more than ten monosaccharide units.
