Sugar vs. Starch

clicketykeys

So, my current understanding is that both are broken down into sugar for energy - or stored as fat - but that the process takes longer for starches (complex carbohydrates). So, starchy foods like pasta (tend to) keep (many) people full and satisfied longer than sugary foods like Skittles.

Without getting into soluble/insoluble fiber or other macros (protein, fat, alcohol), and given that I'm not diabetic or pre-diabetic, is there anything else I should know about sugar or starch?

sijomial

How about the little known fact that carbs very, very rarely get converted to fat storage - in humans at least.

It's an inefficient process so your body will preferentially store dietary fat as no conversion is required.
Totally irrelevant for weight loss or gain though as obviously carbs can contribute to the calorie/energy surplus that promotes the storing of body fat.

From https://bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/excess-protein-and-fat-storage-qa.html/

Let me put this in perspective. Despite a lot of claims to the contrary, the actual conversion of carbohydrate to fat in humans under normal dietary conditions is small approaching insignificant (a topic I discussed at least briefly in Nutrient Intake, Nutrient Storage and Nutrient Oxidation).

Make no mistake, the conversion of carbs to fat (a process called de-novo lipogenesis or DNL) can happen but the requirements for it to happen significantly are fairly rare in humans under most conditions (to discuss this in detail would require a full article, interested readers can search Medline for work by Hellerstein or Acheson on the topic).

At least one of those is when daily carbohydrate intake is just massive, fulfilling over 100% of the daily maintenance energy requirements. And only then when muscle glycogen is full. For an average sized male you’re looking at 700-900 grams of carbohydrate daily for multiple days running.