Of the other natural sugars used by humans, fructose, a monosaccharide is the sweetest and it is the most water soluble of the sugars. It is hygroscopic, making it an excellent humectant when used in baked goods.
The value of humectant in baked food is that it retards their hydration. Solutions of fructose have a low viscosity that results in lower “body” feel than sucrose but in greater flexibility of use over a wide range of temperature. Because of its greater solubility and more effective sweetness than sucrose, fructose is a better alternative to sucrose when very sweet solution are required, as fructose will not crystallize out of solution, whereas sucrose will.
Fructose has sometimes been called the fruit sugar since it occurs in many fruits and berries. It also occurs as a major component in honey, corn syrup, cane sugar, and beet sugar. In fact, sucrose, a disaccharide, is composed of glucose and fructose. Of these two components the glucose moiety cannot be metabolized by diabetics, and it is for this reason that the ingestion of sucrose cannot be tolerated by diabetics.Fructose, on the other hand, does not require insulin for its metabolism and can, therefore, be used by diabetics with no concern. Its use also appears to reduce the incidence of dental carries. When used with saccharin, it tends to mask the bitter aftertaste of saccharin. As it apparently accelerates the metabolism of alcohol, it has been recommended as a rapid source of energy for athletes and, in combination with gluconate and saccharin, as an economic, effective, safe, low calorie sweetener for beverage.
Fructose
