What are the advantages of storing starch instead of sugar?
Starch breaks down entirely to the simple sugar glucose. Glucose
is the single main energy source of the brain and the muscles. It
is easily digested and absorbed,, and it is the sole focus of
feedback in the production of insulin; other simple sugars,
including fructose, do not play into this feedback loop, which
means that they get bypassed in the carbohydrate appetite loop and
thus do not contribute to satiation, thereby engendering
overconsumption. Fructose like glucose is also a simple sugar, but
unlike glucose it cannot be used directly by any of our cells for
energy until it is first converted to glucose in the liver. While
the liver is up to this task in normal situations, excessive
calories consumed in this manner are the ones most likely to wind
up as adipose fat tissue - So basically starch, being 100% glucose
at bottom, is good and fructose, from whatever source (since a
molecule is a molecule) is more-or-less the opposite. What we
commonly call sugar (that is table sugar, or sucrose) is a
di-saccharide which is exactly one half glucose and one half
fructose, the two components into which it is ultimately broken
down. Once it is thus split, the two portions carry on with their
separate dances, which means that the glucose part does its good
ready-energy/insulin-feedbacking thing while the fructose part goes
straight to the liver and completely misses the whole insulin show.
So sucrose is neither all good or all bad, but exactly in between -
half good, half bad. Fructose isn't really all that evil either,
unless too much is consumed, but unfortunately eating a lot of
sugar (or high fructose corn syup, which is even slightly worse) is
very easy to do and that means winding up with way too much
fructose. The naturally occuring sugars in fruits are typically a
roughly equal mix of pure glucose, pure fructose, and sucrose, so
all in all they have about the same pros and cons as consuming pure
sucrose, considered purely as carbohydrate. However, they are more
than redeemed by also being excellent sources of fiber, vitamins,
minerals, and antioxidiants. So you should definitely eat fruit in
addition to starches, but you would do well to get majority of your
carbohydrates come in the form of glucose, meaning, for the most
part, starch - bread, pasta, oats, corn, rice, potatoes, etc. And
beer.