CARBOHYDRATES,

which should account for 55-60% of daily kilojoules, are the body's most important nutrient and provide bulk and fuel. Only 15% of carbohydrate should come from simple sugars, with the remainder being from starchy cereals, vegetables and pulses. Carbohydrate is broken down during digestion into components that are absorbed as glucose by the blood stream. Most carbohydrate which is not used for energy is converted to fat, although a small amount is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles.

I'VE NEVER MET A CARBOHYDRATE I DIDN'T LIKE...

... so goes the caption on a greeting card, but for many people its not a very funny line, especially if they are fighting obesity. Perhaps the best news to come out of modern nutritional research is that carbohydrates are now considered better for you than at any time in the past few decades.

Recent nutritional research has found that fat, not sugar, and definitely not carbohydrates in general, is the problem factor in many diseases such as heart disease, colon cancer, breast cancer, obesity. In addition many unrefined carbohydrates contain fibre that is now thought to be actively helpful in assisting the body to rid itself of the debris left by fat.

Carbohydrate has some winning points in its favour:

• they are found in some of the more attractive foods - bread and grains, fruit and vegetables, potatoes - and can be prepared in a multitude of interesting ways, sparing us boredom.

• the fibre they contain adds bulk to our diet, helping us to feel more satisfied more quickly and for a lower kilojoule cost. This bulk is also healthy for our bowels and is thought to help prevent diseases such as diverticulitis and irritable bowel syndrome, as well as cancer.

• the bulkiness and often the effort we must use to eat carbohydrate foods means we will eat less and so they contribute less kilojoules than fat. A teaspoon of butter or oil contains 150kJ, as many as 2 rounded teaspoons of sugar, or (a better choice) 1/2 a thick slice of wholemeal bread, or a small orange.

• most carbohydrate-rich foods (apart from highly refined ones such as sugar) contain many other nutrients as well, and a varied diet will almost automatically ensure that we have all we need nutritionally.

Perhaps the greatest change in recent nutritional thought has been the revision of diabetic diets to include carbohydrates in greater quantity. Here again, fats have been found to be more of a problem than carbohydrate, even sugar, and the fibre contained in many foods especially grains, pulses and fruits and vegetables, better controls blood glucose and insulin levels and has allowed more flexibility in diabetic diets and better management of the condition