Glucose starts from the structure, benefits, and how the body processes it

You may have heard about glucose, but are still confused by the explanation. Is this sugar from food or sugar in the blood. Now, to straighten your understanding about glucose, starting from the process of its formation, structure, and function in the following full explanation.

What is glucose?

To make it easier to understand glucose (glucose), you should first get to know carbohydrates. Yes, carbohydrates are a type of organic compound, apart from fats, proteins and vitamins. This organic compound consists of carbon atoms (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O).

Based on the classification, carbohydrates are divided into four groups, namely monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides. Well, glucose is included in the monosaccharide group, which is the simplest type of carbohydrate and cannot be broken down or broken down into smaller parts. That is why glucose is often referred to as simple sugar.

Glucose is the main product of photosynthesis, which is the manufacture of food (cooking) by green plants in leaves. Try to remember again, this discussion of photosynthesis must have been studied in elementary school.

Source: Video Blocks

The process of making food on the leaves converts solar energy, water, chlorophyll (the green substance in the leaves), and carbon dioxide into oxygen and sugar, also known as glucose, which is written with the chemical formula C6H12O6.

How did it come about in this way? Look carefully, if it is described, the photosynthesis process that produces glucose will look like this:

6 CO2 (Carbodioxide) + 6 H2O (water) + sunlight + chlorophyll → C6H12O6 (glucose) + 6 O2 (oxygen)

After going through the photosynthesis process, the result, in the form of oxygen, will be exhaled into free air. That is why green plants are the lungs of the world because they provide oxygen for all living things.

Then, the remaining "cooking" in the form of glucose will be flowed throughout the plant tissue through the phloem to support growth, flower formation and fruit development. Well, this glucose is what will be in the leaves of the vegetables and fruit that you consume every day. The sugars contained in fruits and vegetables are also called natural sugars.

What is the structure of glucose like?

Based on the carbonyl group, carbohydrates are divided into two groups, namely aldose and ketose. Well, glucose is included in the aldose group because it has one terminal carbonyl group O = CH (aldehyde), with 6 carbon atoms (C) (hexose).

From this classification, the chemical structure of glucose is obtained is C6H12O6. Then based on the mirror image (enantiomer), glucose uses the structure configuration on the left so that later it has the prefix D and is called D-glucose.

This arrangement will also cause differences in optical activity, namely the ability of a solution to rotate a polarized light field.

In the D enantiomer, the array rotates the plane clockwise and is given the plus (+) symbol. The following is a depiction of the structure of D-glucose with an open chain (see figure 1) with a ring structure of α / alpha and β / beta anomers (see Figure 2).

Figure 2.D-Glucose structure with open chain (Source: Uncla)

Figure 2. Arrangement of D-glucose with a ring structure (Source: Chemistry)

The important role of glucose for both plants and humans

Glucose is a source of energy. Not only plants but also for animals and humans. It's just that animals and humans don't make this energy on their own. They get this energy from plants, namely vegetables and fruits. To be clearer, let's discuss the benefits of glucose for plants and humans more clearly below.

The role of glucose for plants

After studying photosynthesis, you must have understood that plants are producers of glucose. However, you do not yet know what use of glucose is for the plants themselves. Glucose, which is produced from photosynthesis, is actually used by plants as an energy source. So, plants can provide "food" by themselves so they can survive, such as:

Growth and development

Just like humans, plants will continue to develop over time. Starting from the seeds that form shoots, then grow stems, branches, and leaves above the soil surface. Until the plant is getting bigger, it is decorated with flowers (fruit will). When the flower buds begin to bloom, pollination occurs, and fruit will form, for example in a strawberry plant.

Source: Vita Garden

Another example, consider the rose. This popular plant does not bear fruit, but it will continue to flower. Within a few days the blooms will age, dry, and wither. After that, the flower will fall with a little stalk under it. Then, a few days later the new flower buds will appear again.

This process is the same as occurs in the leaves that turn yellow, wilt, and eventually fall. Soon, new leaves will appear again in the same place. If there is no problem, the plant will not only go through a cycle of flowering and fall, but also getting thicker, bigger, and stronger.

Well, all these processes certainly require energy, right? Apart from water, nutrients (an important mineral in the soil), sunlight, and chlorophyll, it turns out that plants also need glucose to do all these things.

Breathing (respiration)

Make no mistake, plants also breathe like humans. It's just that, the process is different. Plants need carbon dioxide (residue from human respiration) in the morning and during the day, as well as oxygen in the afternoon and evening.

When finished in the morning through photosynthesis, glucose will be distributed to all plant tissues and cells. Then, glucose will be stored until the afternoon and evening for the respiration process.

Unlike the photosynthesis that occurs in leaves, the process of respiration occurs in all living cells, including even roots. The process involves combining glucose with oxygen to produce water, carbon dioxide, and energy. Then, the energy produced can help plants to develop and support normal cell function.

The role of glucose for humans

Just like plants, humans also need glucose every day. This is obtained by them from food and drinks, such as rice, bread, bananas, or mango juice. The main role of glucose for humans is as an energy source. After eating, the body will break down these simple sugars to produce a high-energy molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Almost all cells in the body rely on glucose as their fuel. Starting from brain and nerve cells, red blood cells, cells in the kidneys, muscles, and some cells in the retina and eye lenses.

Apart from being a source of energy, glucose is also needed for body cells to work normally. In the pentose pathway, this simple sugar will be used to produce ribose, which is later used for the formation of ribonucleic acid (RNA), deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide acid (NADPH).

RNA and DNA are important components for protein synthesis. Meanwhile NADPH is an important component for fatty acid synthesis.

In brain tissue, glucose is the main source of energy. This simple sugar is also a raw material for the synthesis of alpha ketoglutarate compounds which are important for the process of eliminating ammonia toxins which are very harmful to nerve cells. In addition, glucose is also important as a basis for the synthesis of neurotransmitters which are important for communication between nerve cells.

The important role of glucose is not only that. For red blood cells, this natural sugar is also needed for the synthesis of biphosphoglycerate compounds. This compound turns out to be very important for the process of releasing oxygen from hemoglobin to body tissues.

Red blood cells also need this simple sugar as a protection from free radical attack that damages the health of tissues and organs.

Rows of vegetables and fruits that contain glucose

Since glucose is the product of photosynthesis, it is of course also found in fruits and vegetables. Usually the glucose content in fruits and vegetables is known as natural sugar. Natural sugars in vegetables are usually more abundant when they are still fresh. Meanwhile, the fruit will contain more natural sugars when the condition is ripe.

I wonder what, huh? Take a look at the following rows of foods that actually have natural sugars, such as:

1. Vegetables

Fresh vegetables contain natural sugars. However, it consists not only of glucose but also of fructose. Fructose is another type of simple sugar which is also included in the monosaccharide class of carbohydrates. Before being processed normally, vegetables contain glucose and fructose between 0.1 and 1.5 grams per serving (100 grams).

The lowest natural sugar content, which is about 0.1 gram, is in fresh broccoli. Meanwhile, white cabbage contains 1.5 to 1.9 grams of natural sugar after boiling.

2. Bananas

This yellow fruit is often used as a mainstay for delaying or blocking hunger. The reason is, bananas contain fiber as well as natural sugar with a small amount of protein and vitamins. Bananas contain 5.82 grams of glucose per persi (100 grams).

3. Apples

Apart from bananas, apples are also a mainstay for people who want to lose weight. Yes, this fruit contains about 1.7 to 2.2 grams of natural sugar per 100 grams. Whether or not the sugar content in apples depends on the type and maturity of the apples you eat.

4. Wine

As the name suggests, sugar does taste sweet so most sweet foods have a high sugar content. It's the same with wine. This fruit contains 7.1 grams of natural sugar per serving.

5. Oranges

Apart from being a source of vitamin C, oranges also contain quite a lot of natural sugar, namely 8.51 grams of natural sugar per 100 grams. Apart from glucose, oranges also contain other types of sugar that are useful for the body, such as sucrose. Although they contain natural sugars, oranges are actually low in fat, so they are highly recommended for lowering fat intake.

6. Dates

Who doesn't know this popular sweet food for breaking the fast on this one? Yes, dates have been named the fruit that contains the most natural sugars compared to other fruits. One serving of dates (100 grams) contains 32 grams of glucose.

That means, you have to pay close attention to how many dates you eat so that you don't overdo your sugar intake per day.

The process of glucose metabolism in the human body

In addition to its complex role, the process of metabolizing glucose and other types of carbohydrates in the body is also quite complicated. There are various biochemical reaction pathways when the body metabolizes these types of food, namely glycolysis, pyruvate oxidation, and the citric acid cycle.

Initially, carbohydrate foods will be broken down by digestive enzymes in the mouth into simpler parts, namely glucose. Then, this simple sugar will be absorbed and enter the blood. When the natural sugars from these foods are already in the bloodstream, this is known as blood sugar. So, you can distinguish glucose in food from that in the blood, right?

Furthermore, this sugar will be distributed throughout the body, especially the brain, liver, muscles, red blood cells, kidneys, fat tissue, and to other tissues. The large number of organs and tissues that require oxygen results in a large intake of sugar in the body. That is why these compounds are included in macronutrients (nutrients the body needs in large quantities).

Most of the glucose that enters the liver and muscles is converted into glycogen through the process of glycogenesis. This glycogen is an energy reserve that you can use when there is no food intake. When needed, the glycogen will be broken down back into simple sugars as an energy source.

Glucose metabolism in the body can also be problematic

Although carbohydrates are needed by the body in large quantities, this does not mean that you can eat foods that contain sugar at will. Even if it's a fruit or vegetable that contains natural sugars, not artificial sweeteners.

The process of carbohydrate metabolism is regulated by the hormone insulin, which is produced by pancreatic beta cells. The goal is that the natural sugar levels from food that enter the blood remain stable.

One of the health problems that attack insulin is diabetes. This disease can cause the metabolic process of sugary foods to be disrupted, resulting in various symptoms, such as fatigue, hunger, frequent urination, body injuries and difficulty healing, itchy skin, and other unpleasant symptoms.

If blood sugar levels are not controlled, diabetes will get worse. It can even lead to complications, such as kidney failure, gangrene (injury to a part of the body that causes tissue damage), heart disease, and retinopathy (eye damage).

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