Are the chemical class of compounds which can be called alcohols a
subset of the large class of molecules known as carbohydrates?

Hello.

No, alcohols are NOT a subset of the class of molecules known as carbohydrates.  


From an organic chemistry web page:

The carbohydrates include: 

"monosaccharides C6H12O6 - glucose and fructose:
************************
disaccharides (two monosaccharides condensed together) C12H22O11 - sucrose maltose
********************
polysaccharides (many monosaccharides condensed together) (C6H10O5)n"
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/5226/organic.html#alcohols

Alcohols are not in the carbohydrate group.

"Alcohols are a set of hydrocarbons containing a hydroxyl group ~OH in
which the alkanols are a homologous series"
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/5226/organic.html#alcohols


Also see:
Alcohols
http://www.cem.msu.edu/%7Ereusch/VirtualText/alcohol1.htm#alcnom
Carbohydrates
http://www.cem.msu.edu/~reusch/VirtualText/carbhyd.htm#carb1


To quote a recent newspaper articles:

"Most people think alcohol is a carb, but it's not."
source: SF Chronicle, March 18, 2004
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/18/WIGIQ5LTBC1.DTL


------------
search strategy:
"alcohol is a carb"
"alcohol is not a carb"
alcohols alkyl carbohydrates glucose disaccharides

I hope this helps.

Got the answer to the question I asked - and the answer to the next
question I would have asked.  Thanks much to both folks!

Alcohol is not classified as a carbohydrate, but if you are wondering
whether to count it as a carb or not in your atkins diet, you should
to an extent-- alcohol is metabolized by converting it into
acetaldehyde, and then it's carboxylated into pyruvate (making NADH
too), which is the same molecule that is made from carbs, before
undergoing the krebs cycle, where an excess will be turned into fat.
One glucose molecule will make 32 ATP, whereas one ethanol molecule
will make 15 ATP.  Either way, alcohol calories should be counted as
carb calories, even though they're not chemically classified under the
same category.

Alcohols - CxH(2x+2-y)(OH)y, in general CxHy(OH)z.  Carbohyrates - (CH2O)x.
I'm totally not an organic chemist, but I was under the impression
that the point of Etkin's diet was avoiding carbohydrates, which make
grycerol, which makes fats. And, if I'm not mistaken, alcohol has no
chance of making glycerol, since it's metabolized to
acetaldehyde->acetic acid-> CO2.  Is juggler a better PhD chemist than
me? Do I need to go back to high school?

P.S. Atkin's diet is BS. Everyone with a brain knew about its basis
before Atkins was born.  Don't eat cakes!

Also, if I'm not mistaken, there was an article in Science, which
described results of two sets of tests, where the weight loss in
people with low carb and low fat diets was recorded.  People with low
carb diet lost weight faster than those with low fat diet in the first
few months. However, after 1 year, the weight loss in two groups was
the same.  Which tells me: what one really needs to do is watch his
calories (and watch for low minerals if he's on Atkin's diet).

P.S. Atkin was a fraud.  I'm impressed at how the fast food industry
is eager to adopt anything one sees on late night infomercials.

NATURE|VOL 428 |18 MARCH 2004 |www.nature.com/nature

Hey Archy, acetaldehyde is carboxylated (with TTP, vit. B1, Mg2+ as
coenzymes), making pyruvate. Pyruvate then becomes Acetyl CoA, and at
that point an excess can be synthesized into fatty acid chains.
Although none of this directly gives ATP, it gives 7 NADH's, which
will make approximately 15 ATP if not converted to fat, 5 ATP if it is
stored as fat. So you're right that it never makes glycerol, but it
does make a 3 carbon chain downstream from the metabolism of
glycerol-3-phosphate, with which an excess will accrue as fat. Thus,
the results are very similar to sugar.

It's true that people knew of the "Atkins" concept long before Atkins
published, but Atkins was the first to say NO carbs, which is just
stupid. If you follow the principles here-- avoiding a huge influx of
carbs into your blood, as when eating candy, etc.-- as well as
avoiding fatty foods, then you should avoid weight gain.