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Happy Halloween everyone! Given the holiday, this week’s
topic will be the chemistry of candy. (We all love our candy!) From Snickers and
M&M’s to caramel and Skittles; one of the key ingredients present in all
of these is sugar. We know we love it, but what does this magical little molecule
look like?
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Sugar is actually a general term used to refer to vast class
sweet-flavored compounds utilized in food. Chemically, sugars are a member of
the carbohydrate family. This means that they consist only of carbon, hydrogen,
and oxygen, typically with a 1:1 ratio of carbon to H2O (Cn(H2O)n hence the term carbohydrate). Different types of sugars can be extracted from various sources. The most
familiar type of sugar (table sugar) is sucrose, a compound formed from the two
simple sugars glucose and fructose.
Sugars are classified as monosaccharides (“simple
sugars”) which are made up of a single carbohydrate unit, disaccharides that are
made up of two carbohydrate units, or oligosaccharides that are composed of
many carbohydrate units. The most common
monosaccharide is glucose, a molecule used as the primary energy source for
cells in our body! Fructose and galactose are two other common monosaccharides.
In addition to sucrose, other common disaccharides are maltose (made of two
glucose molecules), which originates from grains, and lactose (made from
galactose and glucose), which is found in milk.
Although small, the differences in these disaccharides can
lead to big biological effects. In order for the body to use the sugar in the
foods you consume, it first must be break down disaccharides into its simple sugar
units such as glucose. If you or someone you know is
lactose intolerant, that means that you/they lack an enzyme in their body known
as lactase, which is responsible for breaking lactose into galactose and glucose.
This phenomenon also explains why humans lack the ability to survive on grass
like other animals. Humans lack enzymes known as cellulases that break down the special type of bond formed between glucose molecules in cellulose,
known as a β-linkages. We are unable to get energy from cellulose because we cannot break it down into glucose units. Unfortunately, plants are roughly 33% cellulose by weight, meaning that most of the usable energy in plants goes to waste!
So this Halloween, after you’ve collected all of your goodies, take a look at the ingredients and see
what sugars are in your candy! Hey, I
did say that glucose was a primary energy source, so eat up!
Candy Links:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY8q0hN6KwA
- http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2009/3/09.03.05.x.html
- http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/candy-links.html
Sources:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar
- http://butane.chem.uiuc.edu/pshapley/GenChem2/B10/1.html
- http://www.humanbodydetectives.com/blog/2011/10/sugar-sugar-chemistry/
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