They are also saccharides a class of chemical compounds. The term saccharide derives from the Greek sakkharon , meaning sweet. The saccharides range from simple compounds, monosaccharides, to large complex molecules, polysaccharides. A disaccharide is a sugar that is composed of two simple sugars. Examples are sucrose or table sugar, lactose or milk sugar, and maltose.
Polysaccharides are complex sugars comprised of many monosaccharides.
Starch and cellulose are polysaccharides. Benedict's solution tests for simple sugars. It will not test directly for complex sugars. A positive Benedict's test will show green, yellow, orange, or red depending on how much sugar is present. We get the amino acids we need by eating the protein of other living organisms.