Fructose is a monosaccharide and an isomer of glucose, and its molecular formula is C6H 12O6. It exists in a large amount in fruit juice and honey in a free state, and fructose can also combine with glucose to produce sucrose. Pure fructose is a colorless crystal with melting point of 103 ~ 105℃. Not easy to crystallize, usually a viscous liquid, easily soluble in water, ethanol and ether. D- fructose is the sweetest monosaccharide.
Most fruits contain fructose. The history of human consumption of fructose has a long history. Since primitive times, there have been records of human consumption of honey, which is a typical mixed syrup with fructose and glucose in half.
After thousands of years, fructose did not stay away from human diet, but due to the limitation of processing technology and technical ability, fructose did not occupy people's dining tables on a large scale. Until the 1970s, the United States broke through the technical bottleneck of fructose production in one fell swoop and began to produce fructose on a large scale. Since then, the output of fructose has increased by 30% every year.
While the output of fructose is increasing, its unique advantages are gradually emerging. The biggest difference between fructose and traditional natural sugar is the low glycemic index, that is, the low GI value. GI (glycemic index) is an index reflecting the degree of blood sugar elevation caused by food.
Experiments show that under the same conditions, if the glycemic index after eating glucose is 100, then the glycemic index after eating fructose is only 23, even as low as 19, while sucrose is as high as 65.
That is to say, the increase of blood sugar after eating fructose is much lower than other traditional natural sugar products, so fructose and related products are widely used in the diet structure of diabetic patients and people with liver dysfunction.
Impact on human health
It was previously thought that replacing sugar with fructose could reduce calorie intake at the same sweetness, and its glycemic index was also very low. Fructose is more conducive to the prevention and control of diabetes. However, this view was refuted. Modern medicine believes that fructose is just alcohol that won't get drunk (it will cause fatty liver, obesity and addiction), so addiction must be limited and prevented, otherwise it will cause metabolic syndrome.
Now medicine believes that fructose may lead to metabolic disorders and increase people's chances of suffering from heart disease, diabetes and gout. It is pointed out that the chemical structure of high fructose corn syrup will stimulate appetite, and may make the liver export more triglycerides to the blood that threaten the safety of the heart.
In addition, fructose can inhibit the trace element chromium in the body, and trivalent chromium plays an important role in maintaining the normal levels of blood sugar, insulin and cholesterol. The experimental study on pancreatic cancer cells in 2008 also found that the metabolic rate of fructose in pancreatic cancer cells is higher than that in glucose, so fructose may also induce the differentiation of pancreatic cancer cells, thus promoting the growth of pancreatic cancer cells.
Refer to the above? Baidu encyclopedia-fructose