Get to Know Your Macronutrients
Try sugars from fiber for yourself, in our dark and milk chocolate bars crafted by Chef Thomas Keller.
At The Supplant Company, we talk a lot about macronutrients, a term food scientists use to describe carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. All are essential for a healthy diet, and there are important reasons to consume the right amounts of each.
Of the three main macronutrients, carbohydrates are at the heart of our business and research. We transform inedible carbohydrates found in unused plant fibers into edible sugars from fiber, by using an enzymatic process to break down those carbohydrates into their component fibers and sugars. This allows us to create a new kind of ingredient that can help people meet their dietary needs while supporting their own and planetary health. See our previous blog to learn how.
Carbohydrates are Indeed Complex
In this era of low-carb or no-carb diets, it’s important to understand that carbohydrates are actually divided into two components: sugars, and fiber. Each plays an essential role in our overall dietary health. However, in America, we tend to eat far too much sugar, with an average of 22 teaspoons of added sugar a day, which amounts to 350 calories of food energy. At the same time, we don’t eat enough fiber, averaging only about half of our recommended daily amount of 30 grams. Addressing this imbalance starts with understanding more about how carbohydrates are an essential macronutrient.
The sugars in carbohydrates give us energy because our bodies break them down into glucose, which fuels our cells, muscles, tissues, and brain. We absorb and use this energy immediately, but if there’s extra, we automatically store the energy to be used later. Health problems like obesity and diabetes can happen when we’ve stored too much energy from sugar, so it’s important to regulate how much we eat. Adults are recommended to only eat about 30 grams (roughly seven teaspoons) of sugar a day. You can read more about sugars in our previous blog.
But sugars aren’t the only essential aspect of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates also contain dietary fiber, which doesn’t give us energy, but helps our bodies manage the energy we take in, lowering blood glucose and helping to regulate our digestive system, prevent cardiovascular problems, and possibly even improve our mental health. You can read more about dietary fiber in our previous blog.
Other Macronutrients to Know
Of course, carbohydrates aren’t the only macronutrient. We need fats and proteins, too.
Fats, even though we might be conditioned to shy away from them, are actually essential macronutrients that give us energy: there are nine calories of energy in every gram of fat. The US FDA recommends no more than 78 total grams of fat daily. This amount is essential because fat helps us store extra energy and absorb certain vitamins, and it helps with blood clotting, nervous system function, reproduction, immune response, and healthy skin and hair.
Meanwhile, a gram of protein gives us four calories of food energy, and the US Food and Drug Administration recommends adults eat 50 grams of protein a day, or a total of 200 calories. We need protein because it helps us build and repair muscles, bones, and tissues. It contributes to regulating our metabolism, and helps balance the pH in our bodies, as well as helping with blood clotting, fluid balance, immune response, vision, and our bodies’ ability to produce hormones, antibodies, and enzymes.
Of course, we all know that following a balanced diet is part of how we stay healthy. But we also know it’s human nature to choose foods that are delicious, sweet, and comforting, which is why many of us turn to carbs first. At The Supplant Company, we embrace those carbs, because sugars from fiber lets us create that balance between food that we love, and nutrition that loves us back.
Try sugars from fiber for yourself, in our dark and milk chocolate bars crafted by Chef Thomas Keller.
