Carbohydrates contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The ration is always 1:2:1, so that in an empirical formula it is CH₂O. As you can see, this is pretty much a carbon attached to a water molecule, thus the name, carbohydrate. The basic unit of a carbohydrate is called a simple sugar. If it can have either one sugar unit (monosaccharide), two sugar units (disaccharide), or many sugar units (polysaccharide). The sugar in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which is deoxyribose, and the sugar in ribonucleic acid (RNA), which is ribose, are examples of two carbohydrates. Basically, sugars are carbohydrates. The most abundant monosaccharide is glucose. Glucose is required for cellular respiration. The molecular formula for glucose is C₆H₁₂O₆. The body takes 6 moles of glucose, 6 moles of water, and 6 moles of oxygen, and converts it to 6 moles of carbon dioxide, 12 moles of water, and energy. This formula is the definition of aerobic respiration--the respiration our body uses to convert stuff we take in (oxygen in the air and glucose in our food) and convert them into products like carbon dioxide and energy. Because the structural arrangement of glucose has two different forms, there is alpha glucose and beta glucose. A disaccharide is nothing more than two monosaccharide rings (they usually form rings) attached to each other by a glycosidic linkage. Table sugar (sucrose) is a common disaccharide composed of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose. Polysaccharides consist of multiple units of monosaccharides. Polysaccharides are the most abundant type of carbohydrate. Starches (stored in plants), glycogen (stored in animal tissue), and cellulose (found in a plant's cell wall), are common types of polysaccharides. Cellulose is the most abundant carbohydrate. And it also interesting to note that out of all the groups of organic compounds, carbohydrates are the most abundant. "Diabetes mellitus is actually a group of related disorders characterized by high blood glucose concentrations. Two main type of diabetes are type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which antibodies mark the beta cells for destruction. T cells destroy the beta cells, resulting in insulin deficiency. Insulin injections are needed to correct the carbohydrate imbalance that results. This

Carbohydrate means hydrate (water) of carbon.

"The most abundant monosaccharide is glucose. Glucose is required for cellular respiration."