The rise of obesity incidence in the US and globally have given carbohydrates a bad reputation. However, carbohydrates play an important role in your child’s growth and development in the right quantity and proportion.
A carbohydrate is a macronutrient, one of three major types of food that also include fats and protein. Carbohydrates or “carbs” occur in three forms: starches, sugars and fiber.
[Read: How to Help Kids With Anxiety.]
Types of Carbs
Sugars
Sugars are the simplest type of carbs. Two common simple sugars in a child’s diet include fructose and glucose. Fructose is commonly found in fruits and some vegetables, and glucose is found in foods like honey, dates and apricots. Glucose is metabolized in the body to form the energy molecule ATP.
Starches
These are formed by long chains of glucose called a complex carbohydrates. Grains like rice, wheat and tapioca, some vegetables, beans and peas are good examples of starch-containing foods.
Fiber
Also a complex carbohydrate, fiber cannot be broken down in the gastrointestinal tract and instead passes through undigested. It does give bulk to the stool and has an important role in maintaining the health of the large intestine.
[READ: Fast Fiber Facts: What Is It and How to Get Enough.]
Digestion and Absorbtion of Carbohydrates
Simple sugars like fructose and glucose are absorbed directly through the cells lining the small intestine. More complex sugars, like sucrose, lactose and maltose, are broken down into their individual components by enzymes present on the linings of the small intestine. For example, lactose is broken down by the enzyme lactase into glucose and galactose.
Complex carbohydrates like starch are digested by enzymes present in saliva, then by enzymes secreted by the pancreas and then again by the enzymes present in the lining of the small intestine before being turned into glucose, which is then absorbed directly. Since starch-containing foods are often cooked, that cooking eases the process of digestion even more by breaking down starch into slightly smaller components.
[Read: A Patient’s Guide to Digestive Diseases.]
The Role of Carbs in Your Body
As mentioned, only simple sugars are absorbed in the lining of the small intestine. Most of the absorbed simple sugars are in the form of glucose or fructose.
In the body, glucose is used to meet the immediate energy needs of the body by generating ATP. Some of the glucose is stored as glycogen in the liver and the muscles to serve as a source of glucose for the body in between meals. Beyond that, glucose gets converted to fat and is stored.
This means that if your child’s diet includes high amounts of simple sugars, like from juices and sugary drinks, a larger proportion of that absorbed sugar will get converted to fat, increasing the risk of obesity.
The Ideal Amount of Carbs in Your Child’s Diet
Generally, carbohydrates should make up 50% to 55% of a child’s caloric needs, but this range can expand to 65%, depending on a child’s age. Teenagers, who are usually more active, have higher caloric requirements and can therefore eat more carbohydrates and stay healthy. In general, your child’s carbohydrate intake should be well-balanced with complex carbohydrates, including foods with good fiber content.
Too High vs. Too Low Carbohydrate Intake
Avoiding excess simple sugars, particularly high fructose-containing beverages, is important to prevent issues related to excess weight gain. Increasing weight trends can lead to risk of obesity and elevated levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, Type 2 diabetes and hypertension. It is important to ensure that your child is growing optimally and eating a combination of healthy foods. If a child does not have optimal proportions of carbohydrates in the diet, their growth can be stunted.
If your child is not gaining weight well or is instead gaining weight excessively, seeking help from a pediatrician or from a pediatric dietitian can give parents insight into optimally balancing the dietary intake, particularly their carbohydrate intake. Your pediatrician or pediatric dietitian will be able to give insight into nutrition adjustments based on their assessment and a child’s growth trends.
Restricting Children’s Carbohydrates
If your pediatrician is concerned about excess weight gain, bringing a child’s carbohydrate intake down may help to promote healthy well-being of your child.
Other than this, restriction of carbohydrate intake is only recommended in a few clinical situations. If your child is diagnosed with lactose intolerance, which sometimes happens following a viral infection, they may need to be temporarily placed on a lactose-free diet for about 2 to 3 weeks. Some children may have a persistent problem tolerating lactose and may need to stay on a low lactose or a lactose-free diet long term. Some children may also have trouble with a higher fructose diet and experience gas, bloating and diarrhea because their body struggles to absorb fructose. These children may benefit from a low-fructose diet.
Rarely, some children are born without the enzyme that breaks down table sugar, and these infants and children generally have a hard time tolerating many forms of carbohydrates. Children with this condition will require special formulas and supplementation with the digestive enzyme that they are lacking in the diet to prevent diarrhea and to promote optimal growth. In all of these situations, seeking help from your pediatrician can help guide your child’s diet in the proper direction.
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Why Children Need Carbohydrates originally appeared on usnews.com
