Carbohydrate Deficiency

What Is a Carbohydrate Deficiency?

Carbohydrates are a vital dietary macronutrient and your key source of energy. Foods that contain carbohydrates provide you with most of your daily vitamin and mineral needs, the micronutrients. Carbohydrates are contained in a wide variety of foods, including fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Each of these foods provide different types of carbohydrates that absorb into the blood stream at faster or slower rates during digestion, depending on the molecular structure. A carbohydrate deficiency can occur when you restrict your diet of carbohydrate-rich foods  This will limit the availability of your main source of energy from glucose.

Structure of Carbohydrates

Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen with one or many sugar molecules make up a carbohydrate. Generally, a simple sugar carbohydrate is one or two sugar molecules like those found in table sugar or fresh fruit. A complex carbohydrate has three or more sugar chains, such as those found in beans, whole grains and starchy foods. Fibre is also a carbohydrate, but fibre is not a complete food, rather a part of a food item that does not break down, like the skin of an apple, and are critical for digestive health. Carbohydrates metabolise into a single glucose molecule, which is released first into your bloodstream then transported to your cells as a source of energy. A diet lacking in carbohydrates causes low glucose levels, which can lead to hypoglycaemia, or abnormally low blood sugar.

Carbohydrate Deficiency, Ketones and Ketoacidosis

When your body does not have enough carbohydrates to produce energy from glucose it begins to burn fat for energy instead.  Woohoo! I can hear many of you exclaim but, and it is a big but, extended periods of burning fat for energy due to a lack of carbohydrates in the diet is dangerous.  Ketones are acids in the blood that form when fat is used as an energy source. Over time, the accumulation of acidic ketones causes you to lose minerals vital to normal health functions like fluid balance, nerve transmission and muscle contraction. A dangerously high level of ketones in your bloodstream increases the risk of electrolyte imbalance, dehydration, fatigue and digestive problems. In diabetics, this deficiency can lead to ketoacidosis, a life-threatening condition.

Carbohydrate Deficiency Risk

Low-carbohydrate diets are based on restricting your daily carbohydrate intake to induce your body to burn fat for weight loss. You can lose a significant amount of weight on a low-carbohydrate diet when followed faithfully, but you cannot stay on this type of diet for extended periods because you risk carbohydrate deficiency. Symptoms of low carbohydrate intake can include irritable or depressed mood -- because glucose is imperative for the production of mood-sustaining brain chemicals -- lethargy and lack of energy, headache, and constipation from lack of fibre. Diabetics are at risk of deficiency when insulin levels are not properly managed or if the diet doesn't include enough carbohydrate-rich foods.

Deficiency Prevention

A diet rich in an array of fruits, vegetables and whole grains can prevent you from becoming carbohydrate deficient. The recommended daily intake of carbohydrates, according to the 2013 Australian Dietary Guidelines for Men aged 19 – 50 is 6 serves of vegetables & Legumes and 2 serves of fruit and for women aged 19 – 50 is, 5 and 2 respectively.

Benefits

Adding carbohydrates to your diet will provide you with the energy to get through your day and your exercise routines and will provide your brain with the one and only energy source it can use: glucose.  A diet that includes carbohydrates has also been shown to limit the production of Cortisol, the stress hormone, which is a key element in your body’s ability to store fat and will enable your body to more readily use muscle protein as an energy source.

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