What kind of substance is sucrose

See: PubMed. Saccharomyces cerevisiae NCBI:txid Source: yeast. Escherichia coli NCBI:txid Homo sapiens NCBI:txid See: DOI. Roles Classification.

Biological Role s :. Escherichia coli metabolite Any bacterial metabolite produced during a metabolic reaction in Escherichia coli. Saccharomyces cerevisiae metabolite Any fungal metabolite produced during a metabolic reaction in Baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Application s :. The saturation point is different at different temperatures.

The higher the temperature, the more sugar that can be held in solution. When you cook up a batch of candy, you cook sugar, water, and various other ingredients to extremely high temperatures. At these high temperatures, the sugar remains in solution, even though much of the water has boiled away.

But when the candy is through cooking and begins to cool, there is more sugar in solution than is normally possible. The solution is said to be supersaturated with sugar. Supersaturation is an unstable state. The sugar molecules will begin to crystallize back into a solid at the least provocation. Stirring or jostling of any kind can cause the sugar to begin crystallizing. The fact that sugar solidifies into crystals is extremely important in candy making.

As such it is common in many processed and so-called junk foods. Human beings, and in fact most other mammals except felines, which lack the ability to taste sweetness will typically accept food sweetened with sucrose even if they are not hungry. In mammals, sucrose is very readily digested in the stomach into its component sugars, by acidic hydrolysis. This step is performed by a glycoside hydrolase, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of sucrose to the monosaccharides glucose and fructose.

Glucose and fructose are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream in the small intestine. Undigested sucrose passing into the intestine is also broken down by sucrase or isomaltase glycoside hydrolases, which are located in the membrane of the microvilli lining the duodenum. These products are also transferred rapidly into the bloodstream.

Sucrose is digested by the enzyme invertase in bacteria and some animals. Acidic hydrolysis can be used in laboratories to achieve the hydrolysis of sucrose into glucose and fructose. Sucrose is an easily assimilated macronutrient that provides a quick source of energy to the body, provoking a rapid rise in blood glucose upon ingestion.

However, pure sucrose is not normally part of a human diet balanced for good nutrition, although it may be included sparingly to make certain foods more palatable.

Overconsumption of sucrose has been linked with some adverse health effects. The most common is dental caries or tooth decay, in which oral bacteria convert sugars including sucrose from food into acids that attack tooth enamel. Sucrose, as a pure carbohydrate, has a high food energy content 4 kilocalories per gram or 17 kilojoules per gram , and thus can make a diet hypercaloric even in small amounts, contributing to obesity.

The rapidity with which sucrose raises blood glucose can cause problems for people suffering from defects in glucose metabolism, such as persons with hypoglycemia or diabetes mellitus.