Disaccharides

                                                 Disaccharides

Disaccharides: or double sugars are made from two connected monosaccharides. Like monosaccharides, disaccharides are simple sugars that are soluble in water. Three common examples are sucrose, lactose, and maltose.

Sucrose is found in almost all plants. Sugarcane and sugar beets are the best producers of sucrose. Most of the world’s sugar comes from them. Sugarcane is a giant, thick grass. Major producers of sugarcane include Brazil, India, and China.

Lactose is a disaccharide or double sugar composed of galactose and glucose. Lactose makes up around 2–8% of dairy milk.  It is white, water-soluble, readily absorbs moisture from the environment, solid, and has a mildly sweet taste. It is used in the food industry. Some people get tummy aches and/ loose stools when they drink dairy milk because they cannot digest lactose.  We call this being lactose intolerant.

Maltose is created in seeds and other parts of plants as they break down their stored energy in order to sprout. Thus, foods like cereals, certain fruits and sweet potatoes contain naturally high amounts of this double sugar. It is less sweet than sucrose and fructose. It is used as the sweetener in hard candy and frozen desserts because of its unique tolerance to heat and cold.