Carbohydrates
Science: Year 3 & 4 National Curriculum, topic 2.1.3
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrate is a food group. Carbohydrates are the starchy or sweet foods made by plants.
Examples of carbohydrates
- Potatoes.
- Cereal.
- Bread.
- Sugar.
People need carbohydrates
- Everyone needs carbohydrates for energy.
- A child’s balanced diet would contain 3 to 5 servings of carbohydrate spread through the day.
One serving of carbohydrate
- One serving of carbohydrate might be:
- One slice of bread.
- One medium potato.
- A cup and a half of pasta.
Carbohydrates in a Diet
A child’s balanced diet would contain 3 to 5 servings of carbohydrate spread through the day. If someone eats more carbohydrate than they need, it is stored in their body as fat.
Sugar
- A balanced diet does NOT contain a lot of sugar.
- Sugar is a form of carbohydrate.
What foods contain sugar?
- There is a lot of sugar in:
- Sweets.
- Biscuits.
- Cakes.
- Soft drinks.
Hidden sugar
- 'Hidden sugar' is in foods that we do not think of as having a lot of sugar.
- There is ‘hidden sugar’ in:
- Tomato sauce.
- Yoghurt.
- Soup.
Looking out for hidden sugar
- You can spot hidden sugar in your food by looking at the ingredients on the packet.
- On food packet labels, ingredients that end in '-ose' are types of sugar. For example:
- Fructose.
- Dextrose.
- Glucose.
Test yourself on Carbohydrates
How many servings of carbohydrate should a child eat per day for a balanced diet?
Which of these is an example of a serving of carbohydrate?
What is hidden sugar?
Which of these foods contain hidden sugar?