Sugar Flashcards
What is sugar?
A basic food carbohydrate which primarily comes from sugar cane/beet but is found in the tissue of most plants
What form of sugar do humans mainly require?
Glucose
Where is sugar found?
All plants
Fruit
Honey
What does sugar in terms of a food usually refer to ?
Sucrose
What is sucrose?
A disaccharide made of 1 molecule of glucose and 1 molecule of fructose
2 molecules joined in condensation reaction
Give examples of monosaccharides
Glucose Fructose Galactose Mannose Sorbonne Xylose Arabinose Ribose
Give 3 disaccharide examples
Maltose = 2 glucose Lactose = 1 glucose, 1 galactose Sucrose = 1 glucose, 1 fructose
What is raffinose?
A trisaccharide
Made of galactose, glucose and fructose.
Alpha galactosidase is required to break it down, it passes through the stomach and upper intestine intact
Only certain people can digest it if their large intestine contains the right microbes
Found in cabbages
What are the 3 main sugars found in plants?
Glucose, fructose and sucrose
Where did sugar originate?
From sugar cane
New Guinea and spread to SE Asia and India
What is sugar cane?
Tall perennial grass, rich in sucrose
- around15% sugar in sugar cane
- grows 3-6m high
Where was the earliest sugar production?
India
Where did Arab traders introduce sugar from?
South Asia, North Africa and Andalusia
When was the start of sugar and slave trade?
15th century
Columbus took sugar cane to hair and Dominican Republic
How did the west get sugar?
Through colonies
What type of crop is sugar?
Colonial