I have 2 questions for people who know nutrition

[ginkgo]

Of these 3 things, which is the healthiest to eat? A simple carbohydrate, a sugar or a disaccharide? Of these 3 things which is the healthiest to eat? A starch, a complex carbohydrate and a polysaccharide? Also what is the difference between the 3?

[Brutha]

The words saccharide and carbohydrate mean the same thing.
Sugar is often used to describe simple saccharides and happens to be a word that used by laypeople but not much in scientific literature. Words for laypeople have often the characteristic that they aren't well defined and different people might mean different things with them.

A disaccharide is a simple carbohydrate.
Starch is a complex carbohydrate.

[ginkgo]

A dissacharide is a simple carbohydrate that is also a sugar. A polysacharide is a starch and that is a complex carbohydrate. I wanted to see if people knew this.

[WhiteCrow]

True, but it is short sighted to say that monosacharides are bad and poly are good. A quote from Dr. Berardi from T-Nation.

"For example, when you take a look at starch, it's merely a very long chain of glucose molecules that, once hydrolyzed, form free glucose or dextrose and cause a very high insulin response. As we know, insulin is a potent lipogenic hormone (fat building or generating) and if insulin levels are raised for a prolonged period of time, this doesn't allow lipolysis (fat breakdown) to occur. Thus a person will gain fat. "

On monosacharides (fructose)

Now, fructose on the other hand doesn't require insulin in order to be stored as glycogen and thus it causes a very small increase in insulin secretion, making it better than starch in terms of the insulin response. In other words, an apple is better for you than some rice.

Nutrition aint easy

[WhiteCrow]

Another quote:

Maltodextrin, for example, is a complex carbohydrate that digests more quickly than straight glucose (a simple carbohydrate) while causing more dramatic increases in blood sugar and blood insulin. Therefore it appears that classifying carbohydrates according to how they're processed in the body presents a better way to look at carbs than classifying them according to their structural characteristics (i.e. simple vs. complex). Enter the glycemic and insulin indices….

[Fullcrum]

Also consider what you are eating the simple or complex sugars WITH.

Fruits are mostly simple sugars, but there's a ton of fiber in them, so it slows down the absorption while also reducing digestive load. It's the best of both worlds: efficient digestion and good energy.