subject: Important Monosaccharide: Dextrose [print this page] Important Monosaccharide: Dextrose Important Monosaccharide: Dextrose
As we know, dextrose is the most prevailing and most familiar monosaccharide in the world. It is sometimes called glucose or blood sugar. As the most numerous compound in nature, it is compounded by water and carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. Originally, it is extracted from grape juice. As a result, some people call it grape sugar as well. It mainly exists in the blood plasma and the lymph. Its amount in human's blood is as much as 0.08% to 0.1%. Dextrose exists in plants in the form of a dissociative substance. Fruit and honey are especially rich in dextrose. But it is not practical to extract dextrose from fruit or honey if a mass production is needed, for the cost is too high. At present, dextrose is produced from farina which is extracted from corns and potatoes. In industry, people used to extract farina from corns and potatoes in hydrochloric acid of 0.25% to 0.5% by hydrolyzing. After obtaining the dextrose liquid, it would be condensed. Nowadays most manufacturers adopt the method of enzymatic hydrolysis. In other words, they hydrolyze corns and potatoes by amylases to get the 90% dextrose liquid. Dextrose is indispensable in people's life because it directly participate in metabolism. In the alimentary canal, it is absorbed more easily than any other monosaccharide. After absorption, it can be immediately used by the human body. In contrast, amyloses and polysaccharides like cane sugar have to be converted into dextrose before involving in the metabolism. Dextrose becomes carbon dioxide and water after oxidation in the human body. This process releases a certain quantity of heat. More specifically, every gram of dextrose could releases 17.1 kilojoules of heat, which take up half of the heat that men and animals need. Dextrose is one of the most important materials in industry. It is three fourths as sweet as cane sugars. So it is usually used in food industry. For example, it is widely used to produce bread, candies, cakes and beverage. In medical circles, dextrose is adopted for transfusion. It is because that dextrose can be easily and directly absorbed as patients' nourishment. When it is oxidized, there is a compound called dextrose acid, which can combine with calcium and function as a useful medicine. And when it is deoxidized, a substance called hexitol is formed. This substance is a necessary material to produce vitamin C. There is no doubt that dextrose is useful and helpful.
