Potatoes, breads, cereals, and other foods high in complex carbohydrates have always been regarded as cheap and essential - a staple for the poor. According to John Vanderveen, director of the division of nutrition at FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, complex carbohydrates should make up about 55 percent of the calories in our daily diet, with fat making up 30 percent or less and protein the remainder. Complex carbohydrates, or polysaccharides, are made mostly of long strands of simple sugars. A single starch molecule may contain from 300 to 1,000 or more sugar units. The giant molecules are packed side by side in a plant root or seed, providing energy for the plant.
All starches are plant materials.
Cereal grains, such as wheat, rice and corn, are rich sources of starch, constituting a large part of the world's food supply, generally in the form of breads and pastas. Starches are also found in potatoes and legumes. Starchy foods, once avoided by dieters as fattening, are actually a good source of energy for those who want to lose weight. Many people think that starchy foods such as bread, potatoes and pasta are high in calories. They aren't - until the bread is thickly buttered, the potatoes generously topped with sour cream, and the macaroni mixed with cream and cheese sauce.