A cooked tuber, such as a potato, provides significantly more calories than spinach due to the presence of starch, a polysaccharide that is easily digestible and serves as a major energy source. In contrast, spinach contains cellulose, which is a structural polysaccharide that humans cannot digest, resulting in minimal caloric intake. The differences in the molecular structure and digestibility of these polymers of glucose explain why tubers are calorically dense while spinach is low in calories, despite both containing glucose-based compounds.
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