Glucose

Food · Pantry & Condiment · Food, Typed Supps

Not the same thing as the glucose in your blood test. This is a thick starch syrup used to stop sweets going grainy.

Stage by stage

Intake (Mouth): Mildly sweet and viscous; less sweet than sucrose at the same weight.
Digestion (Small intestine): Free glucose needs none, and the remaining short chains are hydrolysed within minutes.
Absorption (Bloodstream): SGLT1 transports glucose straight across the gut wall, the fastest carbohydrate absorption there is.
Use (Muscle and liver): Insulin rises steeply; glucose is used immediately or stored as glycogen and then fat.

Time to effect

Under 30 minutes: Blood glucose rises within 15 to 30 minutes, the fastest of any dietary carbohydrate.

Allergens

None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.

Satiety

Not scored: the satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings, and nobody eats a 240 kcal serving of this. The question does not apply rather than the answer being unknown.

Cost band

Mid — roughly £5 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Carbohydrate
Added sugars

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 303
Protein: 0g
Carbohydrate: 87.5g
of which sugars: 33g
Fat: 0g
of which saturated: 0g
Fibre: 0g
Sodium: 150mg

Food vs. supplement

Glucose is what sports gels and glucose tablets are largely made of, and in that setting the speed is the feature: for endurance exercise or correcting a hypo, nothing works faster. Outside those uses it is a manufacturing ingredient contributing energy and no nutrients at all.

Kitchen tip

In confectionery, glucose syrup is added to sucrose specifically to interfere with crystal formation and keep fudge, caramel and sorbet smooth. Substituting more sugar for it will usually produce a grainy result rather than a sweeter one.

Common myth

"Glucose syrup is a natural sugar and gentler than high fructose corn syrup." In reality: It is neither gentler nor the same thing. Glucose syrup contains little fructose but raises blood glucose faster than table sugar does, and all of it counts as free sugars whatever the sugars line on the label says.