Uglevody yavlyayutsya naibolee rasprostranennym klassom organicheskikh soedineniy prirody i, blagodarya ikh funktsii, uglevody mozhno rassmatrivat kak osnovu sushchestvovaniya rastitelnykh i zhivotnykh organizmov. Neobkhodimost' izucheniya uglevodov zaklyuchayetsya v shirokom spektre ikh funktsiy. Funktsii эnergeticheskaya - preimushchestvo uglevodov sostoyat v ikh sposobnosti okislyatsya kak v aerobnykh, tak i v anaerobnykh usloviyakh (glyukoza), Zashchitno-mekhanicheskaya - osnovnoe veshchestvo truschikhsya poverkhnostey sustavov, nakhodyatsya v sosudakh i slizistykh obolochkakh (gialuronovaya kislota i drugie glikozaminoglikany), Opor