Difference Between Glucose and Fructose

Glucose vs Fructose
While not everyone would classify themselves as ‘sweet tooth’, there are few people who would gladly give up all sugar from their diet. Sugar can take many forms but the most common are sucrose, glucose, and fructose. If one is searching for the lowest common denominator, there should then just be glucose and fructose because these two monosaccharides are the building blocks of sucrose.

There are many similarities between glucose and fructose. They are both simple sugars, and are monosaccharides. Simple sugars contain only one type of carbohydrate as opposed to two like the disaccharide sucrose. The chemical formula for glucose and fructose are also the same: C6(H2O)6. Once they have entered the body, both sugars eventually make their way to the liver to be metabolized. Most processed and natural foods out there contain a combination of fructose and glucose. Even foods that you would expect to be nearly all fructose, such as high fructose corn syrup, actually have a 55%-45% composition in favor of fructose.

There are a few key ways in which these two sugars differ though.

Molecular Composition
While their chemical formula is the same, the molecules of glucose and fructose are laid out in different formations. They both start out by making a hexagon with their six carbon atoms. Each carbon is bound to a water molecule.
Glucose ‘“ is an aldohexose. Its carbon is attached to a hydrogen atom by a single bond and an oxygen atom by a double bond.
Fructose ‘“ is a ketohexose. Its carbon is attached only to an oxygen atom by a single bond.

Metabolism
As aforementioned, both sugars end up in the liver. However,
Glucose ‘“ is eaten, absorbed into the blood stream, and makes it way to the liver where it is broken down to supply energy to the entire body. This breaking down process requires insulin.
Fructose ‘“ is eaten and absorbed but releases its energy slower than glucose. It does not need insulin to be metabolized and therefore is a marginally better choice for diabetics.

Taste
Fructose is many times sweeter than glucose. Many people feel that uncooked fructose can actually be overwhelming. This is especially true when the fruit that fructose is mostly found in becomes overripe. Once fructose has been cooked though, it loses much of its sweetness. That is why sucrose, or granulated sugar, is recommended for baking instead of crystallized fructose.

Summary
1.Fructose and glucose are both monosaccharides with the same chemical composition but a different molecular structure.
2.These two sugars are found in some combination in nearly all sweetened foods available.
3.Glucose needs insulin for proper metabolizing while fructose needs no insulin to be processed.
4.Raw fructose is many times sweeter than glucose.

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