What is glucose?

                                     HEXOSES

Like other monosaccharides, hexoses can be divided into two main groups:

·         Aldoses or sugars containing an aldehyde group. E.g.glucose, galactose and mannose and

·         Ketoses or sugars with a ketone group. E.g. fructose and sorbose. The chemical structures of some important hexoses are given in Fig.1.

GLUCOSE (dextrose):

Glucose occurs in the free state in many fruits (2-6%) and in honey (30-40%). It contains an aldehyde group. Glucose on reduction gives sorbitol. Glucose has been described as the “current carbohydrate coin of the body” as the body utilizes carbohydrates mainly in the form of glucose .normal human blood ontains about 82-100mg of glucose per 100ml of blood. This level is maintained constant in healthy subjects. In persons suffering from the diseases diabetes, mellitus the concentration of glucose in blood may be very high (180-300mg per100ml of blood), depending on the severity of the diseases. Glucose is not present in the urine in normal persons but in persons suffering from diabetes, glucose is exerted in the urine (up to 6%).

Medicinal glucose (Glucose D, dextrose):

 Glucose is manufactured on a large scale by the hydrolysis of starch by dilute hydrochloric acid or enzymes. Glucose (with or without added calcium, salts and vitamins-D) is used as a source of energy in the diets of medical and surgical patients as it is readily absorbed and utilized by the body.