• Description
• Functions

Desciption

Sugar has been blamed for all manner of health problems, often without justification. Many people are misinformed and confused about the role of sugar in the body. They cannot differentiate among different kinds of sugar. They have not learned that glucose runs every cell alive on planet earth.

Glucose, like oxygen and water is essential to life, but too much in the wrong place, at the wrong time can be harmful.  The basic principle of life is that the right molecules have to be delivered to the right place at the right time. This principle is used to formulate elemental nutrient formulas such as Alpha ENF.

The idea is that  glucose and fructose supply the energy that the body needs; the sugars are combined with all other nutrients following an ideal proportioning plan. If glucose utilization is impaired as in diabetes, then the rate of glucose absorption becomes critical. Small frequent doses will often be better utilized and high blood sugar peaks are avoided.

Other names the glucose is known by: D-Glucose; Anhydrous dextrose; Cartose; Cerelose; Corn sugar; D-(+)-Glucose; Dextropur; Dextrose; Dextrosol; Glucolin; Grape sugar; Sugar, grape; α-d-glucose; component of Kadalex; D-Glucose, anhydrous; Dextrose, anhydrous; GLUCOSE (D); Sirup; Glucose, anhydrous; Glucose liquid

Functions

Human action is an expression of biological energy derived from food. Living cells are glucose-burning machines. Animals take advantage of the ability of plants to manufacture sugar and other nutrients. The energy, which supports us, is locked into the molecular bonds of a few basic fuel molecules: glucose, fructose, fatty acids, and amino acids. The energy is released as the energy-supplying molecules are dismantled by oxidation. Food-derived energy allows us to move, to do work by muscle contraction, and to keep warm. Body heat is generated by the metabolic activity of every cell. Carbohydrates and fats are the principle sources of energy; amino acids may be utilized as energy when glucose intake is limited or glucose utilization is impaired as in diabetes.

Some tissues such as muscle require insulin to absorb sugar. Other organs, such as the brain, do not require insulin and are prime sugar consumers. The liver tries to maintain blood sugar levels within a narrow normal range by either absorbing or releasing sugar. The liver stores sugar as glycogen and is also capable of producing sugar from amino acids if food does not supply adequate sugar. Slow absorption of sugars is better tolerated than the rapid absorption of larger amount. Complex carbohydrates in vegetables are ideal sustained-release sources of sugar.

Carbohydrates are energy and structural molecules produced by plants. Glucose is the key molecule in living systems and life is built around glucose and its related sugars. Plant foods are essential to animal life and form the bulk of most human diets. Rice, wheat, potatoes, yams, cassava, and corn are the world's most important staple foods. High-starch vegetables tend to be roots or tubers like potatoes, yams, turnips, winter squash, carrots, and beets. Yams and sweet potatoes are high-caloric root vegetables. Fruits tend to have a  high sugar content, mostly glucose, fructose and sucrose. Fruit juices have the highest free sugar content of all plant foods except for sugar cane which stores sugar in its stalk. The green leafy vegetables are more chemically diverse and interesting foods that supply less digestible carbohydrate but more vitamins, minerals, and non-digestible fiber. The seeds of 30 or so common legume species are important vegetables, since they are cheap, available and high in protein and fatty acids.

The principal sugars are glucose and fructose. These are the simplest CHO molecules, known by their single ring structure as monosaccharides. Glucose is the fuel of all living things, supplying energy to all living cells, both plant and animal. The creation of glucose begins in plants with the magic of photosynthesis. The sun's photons are the original energy source used by the chloroplasts of leaves to drive carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms together to form glucose. Plants then use the newly synthesized glucose to fuel all their other synthetic processes, constructing tissues so that animals have food to eat. Fructose is the first cousin of glucose and occurs in fruit and corn syrup.