Difference Between Aldose and Ketose

Aldose vs Ketose

Sweets have conquered everyone’s appetites. A full meal can’t be called full without the desserts being served on our tables. After the main course, it is already traditional to eat sweets or desserts. When we were kids, our moms would serve chocolates, cheesecake, and lollipops. Kids are very eager to chomp on chocolates and cheesecake and to have a lick on lollipops. The adults may prefer sweet fruits like mangoes and strawberries. Others might prefer doughnuts and cookies. Sweets are really amazing inventions because they have captured everyone’s hearts.

Because everyone loves sweets, there are specific holidays for them. When the month of February arrives, many sweets are being produced because it is Valentine’s Day. Chocolates are the stars for the said event. Women and men alike love to receive chocolates during Valentine’s Day. Another sweet holiday is trick or treats of Halloween! Halloween isn’t just for ghosts and ghouls; it is also a time to receive candies.

Sweets are rich in carbohydrates since they are made of sugars. Sweets may be mouth-watering, but you should watch your health and diet! Since we have already talked about sugars, let us discuss the difference between aldose and ketose.

According to some reliable online sources, aldose is a monosaccharide with an aldehyde group. Aldose can be classified into five categories namely: diose, triose, tetroses, pentoses and hexoses. Under hexoses are: allose, altrose, mannose, gulose, idose, talose, galactose, and the most popular group, glucose. Aldoses are primarily found in plants. Then they are processed to convert into something more useful like glucose. Rich food sources of glucose are grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and refined sugars.

The examples above belong to the aldose group because they only have one carbon atom within the aldehyde group. The aldose molecules also have five other hydroxyl groups. The majority of the aldose molecules are cyclic in structure. Usually, when molecules have cyclic structures, they form a six-member ring structure called a hemiacetal ring because of the presence of carbon.

On the other hand, a ketose is a sugar with one ketone group for every molecule. Examples of ketoses are: trioses, tetroses, pentoses, hexoses, heptoses, octoses, and nonoses. Hexoses are also ketoses if their group includes: fructose, psicose, sorbose and tagatose. Rich sources of fructose are fruits like agave. Other sources of fructose are: raisins, prunes, dates, and figs. Our favorites, honey and molasses, also contain high doses of fructose. Processed foods like: ketchup, barbecue sauce, concentrated lemonade mixes, salad dressings, sugary cereals, and sweet-and-sour sauces are all high sources of fructose.

According to studies, the carbon atom in the ketone group always gets the number two. If aldose forms a six-member ring, ketose, like the fructose, forms a five member ring called hemiketal. The chemical names of the ketose sugars depend on the number of carbon atoms they possess. If there are five carbon atoms, it will be called ketopentose and so on.

Consuming sweets is really hard to resist. However, sweets are not always good for the body and health. You may be prone to diabetes because of an excessive consumption of sweets. Aldose and ketose might be the reasons why we are having so much pleasure in eating, but we should always remember that any excess of these sugars is detrimental to our health.

Summary:

1. Aldose is a monosaccharide with an aldehyde group. A ketose is a sugar with one ketone group for every molecule.

2. Aldoses are primarily found in plants. An example of aldose is glucose.

3. Ketoses can be found in processed foods. An example of ketose is fructose.

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