Carbohydrates vs. Starch — What's the Difference?

Biomolecules consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.

A polysaccharide made of glucose units.

Found in various foods like grains, fruits, and dairy.

A type of complex carbohydrate in plants.

Include sugars, starches, and fibers.

Serves as a major energy source in diets.

Can be simple (sugars) or complex (starches).

Found in foods like rice, wheat, and corn.

Broken down into glucose for energy.

Broken down into glucose for sustained energy.

Any of a group of organic compounds, including sugars, starches, celluloses, and gums, that contain only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen and that originate chiefly as products of photosynthesis. Carbohydrates serve as a major energy source for living things.

A naturally abundant nutrient carbohydrate, (C6H10O5)n, found chiefly in the seeds, fruits, tubers, roots, and stem pith of plants, notably in corn, potatoes, wheat, and rice, and varying widely in appearance according to source but commonly prepared as a white amorphous tasteless powder.

A food, such as bread, rice, or potatoes, that is composed largely of these substances.

Any of various substances, such as natural starch, used to stiffen cloth, as in laundering.

Plural of carbohydrate

Starches Foods having a high content of starch, as rice, breads, and potatoes.

Stiff behavior

Vigor; mettle

To stiffen with starch.

(uncountable) A widely diffused vegetable substance, found especially in seeds, bulbs and tubers, as extracted (e.g. from potatoes, corn, rice, etc.) in the form of a white, glistening, granular or powdery substance, without taste or smell, and giving a very peculiar creaking sound when rubbed between the fingers. It is used as a food, in the production of commercial grape sugar, for stiffening linen in laundries, in making paste, etc.

Carbohydrates, as with grain and potato based foods.

(uncountable) A stiff, formal manner; formality.

(uncountable) Fortitude.

(countable) Any of various starch-like substances used as a laundry stiffener

To apply or treat with laundry starch, to create a hard, smooth surface.

Stiff; precise; rigid.

Stiff; precise; rigid.

A widely diffused vegetable substance found especially in seeds, bulbs, and tubers, and extracted (as from potatoes, corn, rice, etc.) as a white, glistening, granular or powdery substance, without taste or smell, and giving a very peculiar creaking sound when rubbed between the fingers. It is used as a food, in the production of commercial grape sugar, for stiffening linen in laundries, in making paste, etc.

Fig.: A stiff, formal manner; formality.

To stiffen with starch.

A complex carbohydrate found chiefly in seeds, fruits, tubers, roots and stem pith of plants, notably in corn, potatoes, wheat, and rice; an important foodstuff and used otherwise especially in adhesives and as fillers and stiffeners for paper and textiles

Stiffen with starch;

In moderation, it's a valuable energy source, especially if from whole grains.

A complex carbohydrate consisting of long chains of glucose.

Grains, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products.

No, they can be either simple (sugars) or complex (like starch).

Primarily, but they also have structural and regulatory roles.

A class of biomolecules including sugars, starches, and fibers.

No, it's a complex carbohydrate made of glucose units.

It's digested into glucose, providing sustained energy.

In plant-based foods like potatoes, rice, and wheat.

Yes, as glycogen in the liver and muscles.

Broken down into glucose and used for energy or stored.

Generally slower than simple sugars, providing longer energy release.

Yes, they are a key energy source for the body.

Both are polysaccharides, but cellulose is a structural component in plants, not digestible by humans.

Simple carbohydrates can spike blood sugar, while complex carbs like starch provide a steadier increase.