Glucose is an ubiquitous nutrient molecule -- not only is it a chemical constituent of many of the naturally-occurring carbohydrates that you eat, it's also an ingredient in many prepared foods. Most common as an ingredient in either crystalline or powdered form, glucose has both nutritional benefits and certain nutritional drawbacks.
Glucose Needs
Your body depends upon glucose to help fill your cellular energy needs. Many body cells use different types of nutrient molecules for energy -- for example, many cells use proteins and fats in addition to glucose. Your muscle cells, however, need glucose for certain types of work, and your brain depends nearly entirely upon glucose to fill its energy needs. As such, glucose is an important constituent of diet.
Sources of Glucose
Glucose is a naturally-occurring component of many sugars. Lactose, or milk sugar, contains glucose, as does table sugar. Glucose is also the chemical building block of starch. Because starchy foods contain large quantities of glucose, it's possible to make glucose syrups from starchy foods -- corn, in particular, is a source of glucose syrup. Food manufacturers can derive glucose from sources like corn and add it to foods in crystal or syrup form.
Reasons For Glucose In Food
If you're eating a food that includes glucose as an ingredient, the reason it was added was to increase the sweetness of the food. Glucose tastes sweet -- though slightly less so than table sugar -- because it binds to sweetness receptors on the human tongue, explain Doctors Reginald Garrett and Charles Grisham in their book "Biochemistry." Humans enjoy the flavor of sweetness, so glucose as an ingredient increases the appeal of foods.
Glucose Benefits
The ingredient glucose provides some nutritional benefits -- while it doesn't provide you with any vitamins or minerals, your cells can use it for energy. You can also store glucose in the form of a molecule called glycogen, explain Drs. Mary Campbell and Shawn Farrell in their book "Biochemistry." Glycogen provides a source of glucose for the body cells -- especially the muscle and brain cells -- during periods of fasting.
Glucose Drawbacks
As is the case with any form of simple carbohydrate, eating too much glucose leads to health problems, including increased risk of obesity. Excess glucose prompts your body to produce more insulin, which in turn converts the glucose to stored fat and raises your blood triglycerides. Though small amounts of body fat benefit you and help provide energy during periods of fasting, high triglycerides and too much body fat increase your risk of other diseases, including heart disease and stroke. Excess consumption can also make blood sugar unstable, and contributes to type 2 diabetes. Finally, tumor cells benefit disproportionately from sugars, according to a 2003 study published in the "British Journal of Cancer." The study found that growth of brain cancer cells, which live exclusively on blood glucose, was curtailed by up to 80 percent on a low-carbohydrate diet.
References
- "Biochemistry"; Reginald Garrett, Ph.D. and Charles Grisham, Ph.D.; 2007
- "Biochemistry"; Mary Campbell, Ph.D. and Shawn Farrell, Ph.D.; 2005
- Nature.com: British Journal of Cancer
