Editing Carbohydrate (section)

===Classification===<!-- This title is used as a redirect target -->
The term ''complex carbohydrate'' was first used in the [[U.S. Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs]] publication ''Dietary Goals for the United States'' (1977) where it was intended to distinguish sugars from other carbohydrates (which were perceived to be nutritionally superior).<ref>Joint WHO/FAO expert consultation (1998), ''Carbohydrates in human nutrition'', [http://www.fao.org/docrep/W8079E/w8079e07.htm chapter 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070115102707/http://www.fao.org/docrep/w8079e/w8079e07.htm |date=January 15, 2007 }}. {{ISBN|92-5-104114-8}}.</ref> However, the report put "fruit, vegetables and whole-grains" in the complex carbohydrate column, despite the fact that these may contain sugars as well as polysaccharides. The standard usage, however, is to classify carbohydrates chemically: ''simple'' if they are sugars ([[monosaccharide]]s and [[disaccharide]]s) and ''complex'' if they are [[polysaccharide]]s (or [[oligosaccharide]]s).<ref name=lpi/><ref name=NutSource>{{cite web|title=Carbohydrates|url=http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/|work=The Nutrition Source|publisher=Harvard School of Public Health|access-date=April 3, 2013|date=September 18, 2012|archive-date=May 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507074502/http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/|url-status=live}}</ref> Carbohydrates are sometimes divided into "available carbohydrates", which are absorbed in the [[small intestine]] and "unavailable carbohydrates", which pass to the [[large intestine]], where they are subject to [[fermentation]] by the [[Human gastrointestinal microbiota|gastrointestinal microbiota]].<ref name=lpi/>

====Glycemic index====
The [[glycemic index]] (GI) and [[glycemic load]] concepts characterize the potential for carbohydrates in food to raise [[blood glucose]] compared to a reference food (generally pure glucose).<ref name="lpi-gi">{{cite web |title=Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load |url=https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/food-beverages/glycemic-index-glycemic-load |publisher=Micronutrient Information Center, Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University |access-date=19 January 2025 |date=2025}}</ref> Expressed numerically as GI, carbohydrate-containing foods can be grouped as high-GI (score more than 70), moderate-GI (56–69), or low-GI (less than 55) relative to pure glucose (GI=100).<ref name=lpi-gi/> Consumption of carbohydrate-rich, high-GI foods causes an abrupt increase in blood glucose concentration that declines rapidly following the meal, whereas low-GI foods with lower carbohydrate content produces a lower blood glucose concentration that returns gradually after the meal.<ref name=lpi-gi/>

[[Glycemic load]] is a measure relating the quality of carbohydrates in a food (low- vs. high-carbohydrate content &ndash; the GI) by the amount of carbohydrates in a single serving of that food.<ref name=lpi-gi/>