Characteristics of dietary sugars compared with their roles in body metabolism.

Based on our 2-yr experience in teaching digestive physiology at the Osijek Faculty of Food Technology in Osijek, Croatia, this article is an attempt to improve students’ understanding of carbohydrate metabolism. The presented material is adapted from a Croatian version prepared for students of food technology attending the Digestive Physiology course in their fourth year, after the completion of chemical and biochemical courses that enabled them to understand carbohydrate terminology and metabolism. Students are also expected to show some knowledge regarding digestive tract function and insulin actions. In case of any doubt, students are encouraged to ask questions. The text is given to students as reading material for a discussion during seminars on carbohydrate metabolism, usually scheduled for the following week. Students can use their textbooks and other references listed in the material, most of them chosen due to their availability as Web sources. Since 20 students were in both classes, they spontaneously shared duties among them, so all sources were found by at least 1 student, which is an expected behavior for a group of fourthyear students. Nevertheless, they showed interest in this topic, which was directly related to their main interest, food technology. We believe that the same or similar material can be helpful in teaching digestion to students of various biomedical programs. The goal was to gain a more comprehensive view of this topic through a reinterpretation of sugar-related facts taken from their textbooks. After completing the seminar, the student is expected to be able to compare and contrast the digestion of simple sugars by the gastrointestinal tract and the implications for water balance. The student will interpret the actions of insulin and which foods have the greatest effect on insulin release.