Nutrition Guide

Xylobiose is a disaccharide of xylose monomers with a beta-1,4-bond between them

D-(+)-Turanose is a reducing disaccharide. Its systematic name is ?-D-glucopyranosyl-(1?3)-?-D-fructofuranose. It is an analog of sucrose not metabolized by higher plants, but rather acquired through the action of sucrose transporters for intracellular carbohydrate signaling. In addition to its involvement in signal transduction, D-(+)-Turanose can also be used as a carbon source by many organisms including numerous species of bacteria and fungi. [2][3][4][5][6]

Trehalose was previously being manufactured through an extraction process from cultured yeast, but, since production costs were prohibitive, use was limited to only certain cosmetics and chemicals.

In 1994, Hayashibara, a saccharified starch maker in Okayama prefecture, Japan, discovered a method of inexpensively mass-producing trehalose from starch. The following year, Hayashibara started marketing trehalose by activating two enzymes, the glucosyltrehalose-producing enzyme that changes the reducing terminal of starch into a trehalose structure, and the trehalose free enzyme that detaches this trehalose structure. As a result, a high-purity trehalose from starch can be mass-produced for a very low price

Trehalose can be found in nature, animals, plants, and microorganisms. In animals, trehalose is prevalent in shrimp, and also in insects, including grasshoppers, locusts, butterflies, and bees, in which blood-sugar is trehalose. The trehalose is then broken down into glucose by the catabolic enzyme trehalase for use. Trehalose is also present in the nutrition exchange liquid of hornets and their larvae.

In plants, the presence of trehalose is seen in sunflower seeds, selaginella plants, and sea algae. Within the fungus family, it is prevalent in some mushrooms such as shiitake (Lentinula edodes), maitake (Grifola fondosa), nameko (Pholiota nameko), and Judas’s ear (Auricularia auricula-judae) which can contain 1% to 17% percent of trehalose in dry weight form (thus it is also referred to as mushroom sugar). Trehalose can also be found in such microorganisms as baker’s yeast and wine yeast, and it is metabolized by a number of bacteria, including Streptococcus mutans, the common oral bacteria responsible for dental plaque.

When tardigrades (water bears) dry out, the glucose in their bodies changes to trehalose when they enter a state called cryptobiosis — a state wherein they appear dead. However, when they receive water, they revive and return to their metabolic state. It is also thought that the reason the larva of sleeping chironomid (polypedihum vanderplanki) and artemia (sea monkeys, brine shrimp) are able to withstand dehydration is because they store trehalose within their cells.

Even within the plant kingdom, selaginella (sometimes called the resurrection plant) which grows in desert and mountainous areas, may be cracked and dried out but will turn green again and revive after a rain, because of the function of trehalose. It is also said that the reason dried shiitake mushrooms spring back into shape so well in water is because they contain trehalose.

The two prevalent theories as to how trehalose works within the organism in the state of cryptobiosis are the vitrification theory, a state that prevents ice formation, or the water displacement theory, whereby water is replaced by trehalose[2], although it is possible that a combination of the two theories are at work.

The enzyme trehalase, a glycoside hydrolase, present but not abundant in most people, breaks trehalose into two glucose molecules, which can then be readily absorbed in the gut.

Trehalose is the major carbohydrate energy storage molecule used by insects for flight. One possible reason for this is that the double glycosidic linkage of trehalose, when acted upon by an insect trehalase, releases two molecules of glucose, which is required for the rapid energy requirements of flight. This is double the efficiency of glucose release from the storage polymer starch, for which cleavage of one glycosidic linkage releases only one glucose molecule.

Sucrose octaacetate is an acetylated derivative of sucrose. It is used commercially and industrially in a variety of applications. It is used as an inert ingredient in pesticides and herbicides. As of December 2005 sucrose octaacetate was determined by the EPA to be completely nonharmful as an ingredient in pesticides.[1]

Sucrose octaacetate has been approved by the FDA as a food additive. It has a bitter taste which has led to its use as a nail-biting and thumb-sucking deterrent. The chemical has also been used to determine tasters from non-tasters in mice.[2]

Beverage emulsions - weighting agent
Color cosmetics and skin care
Flavorings
Fragrance fixative
Hair care

By esterification of sucrose with acetic and isobutyric anhydrides.

ucrose acetoisobutyrate (SAIB) is a emulsifier and has E Number E444.

Sucrose is an easily assimilated macronutrient that provides a quick source of energy to the body, provoking a rapid rise in blood glucose upon ingestion. However, pure sucrose is not normally part of a human diet balanced for good nutrition, although it may be included sparingly to make certain foods more palatable.

Overconsumption of sucrose has been linked with some adverse health effects. The most common is dental caries or tooth decay, in which oral bacteria convert sugars (including sucrose) from food into acids that attack tooth enamel. Sucrose, as a pure carbohydrate, has an energy content of 3.94 kilocalories per gram (or 17 kilojoules per gram). When a large amount of foods that contain a high percentage of sucrose is consumed, beneficial nutrients can be displaced from the diet, which can contribute to an increased risk for chronic disease. It has been suggested that sucrose-containing drinks may be linked to the development of obesity and insulin resistance.[1] Although most soft drinks in the USA are now made with high fructose corn syrup, not sucrose, this makes little functional difference, since high fructose corn syrup contains fructose and glucose in a similar ratio to that produced metabolically from sucrose.

The rapidity with which sucrose raises blood glucose can cause problems for people suffering from defects in glucose metabolism, such as persons with hypoglycemia or diabetes mellitus. Sucrose can contribute to development of the metabolic syndrome.[2] In an experiment with rats that were fed a diet one-third of which was sucrose, the sucrose first elevated blood levels of triglycerides, which induced visceral fat and ultimately resulted in insulin resistance.[3] Another study found that rats fed sucrose-rich diets developed high triglycerides, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance.[4]

In mammals, sucrose is very readily digested in the stomach into its component sugars, by acidic hydrolysis. This step is performed by a glycoside hydrolase, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of sucrose to the monosaccharides glucose and fructose. Glucose and fructose are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream in the small intestine. Undigested sucrose passing into the intestine is also broken down by sucrase or isomaltase glycoside hydrolases, which are located in the membrane of the microvilli lining the duodenum. These products are also transferred rapidly into the bloodstream.

Sucrose is digested by the enzyme invertase in bacteria and some animals.

Acidic hydrolysis can be used in laboratories to achieve the hydrolysis of sucrose into glucose and fructose.