All Sugars Are Not Created Equal: the Effects of Glucose Versus Fructose on the Human Body
All Sugars are not Created Equal:
The Effects of Glucose versus Fructose on the Human Body
All Sugars Are Not Created Equal:
The Effects of Glucose versus Fructose on the Human Body
Sugar has occurred naturally in our environment since the dawn of time, and mankind has been enjoying its sweet taste almost that long. After all, glucose occurs naturally in corn, fructose is the natural sweetener found in fruit, sucrose occurs naturally in sugar beets and cane, and lactose is found in milk. They all taste "equally" sweet on the tongue, but our bodies can tell the difference between these monosaccharide 's, and they most certainly don 't have equally beneficial effects. Recent studies comparing how human bodies respond to simple sugars show that consuming fructose poses a greater risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity than consuming equal amounts of glucose. This paper compares and contrasts these two simple sugars from their chemical composition and structure to the different ways that each is digested and metabolized within the human body.
Structural Differences Despite the fact that glucose and fructose share the same chemical formula, C6H12O6, making them both hexose sugars, their atoms are configured differently, making the two structural isomers. Glucose has 5 atoms of Carbon and one atom of Oxygen in a ring, making it a pyranose sugar. In contrast, fructose has 4 atoms of Carbon and one atom of Oxygen, making it a furanose sugar. The pyranose form is more thermodynamically stable than the furanose form (Carey, 2006). This fact can be seen most readily by the distribution of the two forms in solution. Structurally the two isomers look like this:
Glucose Fructose The differences don 't end there. Glucose has an aldehyde group (--CHO), at position 1 making it an aldohexose. Fructose, on the other hand, has a ketone group (--O--), at position 2 making it a ketohexose. Aldehyde groups can
The Effects of Glucose versus Fructose on the Human Body
All Sugars Are Not Created Equal:
The Effects of Glucose versus Fructose on the Human Body
Sugar has occurred naturally in our environment since the dawn of time, and mankind has been enjoying its sweet taste almost that long. After all, glucose occurs naturally in corn, fructose is the natural sweetener found in fruit, sucrose occurs naturally in sugar beets and cane, and lactose is found in milk. They all taste "equally" sweet on the tongue, but our bodies can tell the difference between these monosaccharide 's, and they most certainly don 't have equally beneficial effects. Recent studies comparing how human bodies respond to simple sugars show that consuming fructose poses a greater risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity than consuming equal amounts of glucose. This paper compares and contrasts these two simple sugars from their chemical composition and structure to the different ways that each is digested and metabolized within the human body.
Structural Differences Despite the fact that glucose and fructose share the same chemical formula, C6H12O6, making them both hexose sugars, their atoms are configured differently, making the two structural isomers. Glucose has 5 atoms of Carbon and one atom of Oxygen in a ring, making it a pyranose sugar. In contrast, fructose has 4 atoms of Carbon and one atom of Oxygen, making it a furanose sugar. The pyranose form is more thermodynamically stable than the furanose form (Carey, 2006). This fact can be seen most readily by the distribution of the two forms in solution. Structurally the two isomers look like this:
Glucose Fructose The differences don 't end there. Glucose has an aldehyde group (--CHO), at position 1 making it an aldohexose. Fructose, on the other hand, has a ketone group (--O--), at position 2 making it a ketohexose. Aldehyde groups can
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