What are better for energy supply polysacaride carbohydrates or monosacaride carbohydrates?

Answer 1

Ultimately all carbohydrates apart from non-soluble poly-sacarides (NSPs or Fiber if you will) are digested and converted in to glucose to be used as energy.

however the rate at which they do so differs greatly. For years digestible carbohydrates were categorized in two two main areas, simple and complex. With mono and di-sacarides being simple and polysacarides being complex. Now in general simple carbs are absorbed faster supplying quick instant energy were as complex take longer supplying slow steady energy.

Now just to confuse things a little. In recent years study on food has shown that some complex carbs aka starches have a similar effect as simple carbs.

Becouse of this it is hard to judge how available the energy is purely by looking at the types of carbs a food contains. What you have to do is look at a foods GL (glyseamic load) potential. The GL of foods indicates how mutch it will raise your blood sugar and ultimatly how much energy will become available.

Now on a practical note if you are looking for your total daily carb intake for training and recovery multiply your body weight in kg by the figures below.

Moderate to low intensity training 5-7g

Moderate to heavy endurance training 7-12g

Extream 4-6 hours a day 10-12g

You should now be able to see how many grams of carb you need during the day. If you want to now the total Kcal multiple the result by 4.

finally to enshore you have sufficient energy during training it is recommended that you consume 2.5g per kg body 1.5-2 hours before training. And if you are training for more than 1.5 hour you need to consume 1g carb per min of training (any more your body wont be able to digest)