Sweetness Lab Analysis

The purpose of the Sweetness Lab was to test the degree of sweetness of different types of carbohydrates on a scale of 0 - 200. The carbohydrates sucrose was used as a control and set a degree of 100 in order to ensure a fair scale. Based on evidence found from the lab, monosaccharides are the sweetest, disaccharides are in the middle, and polysaccharides are at the bottom. Most monosaccharides used as unnatural and natural sweeteners in many food products and had a much higher average rating, with fructose earning a high score of 130. Disaccharides are mainly used as mild sweeteners in products such as milk, they had a mild sweetness and are average rating of 50. Polysaccharides on the other hand had very low degrees (average of 3) and are mainly used for providing energy and were very bland. This data supports my claim because they show real life examples of how the different carbohydrates are used and what the data shows about them.

The shape of carbohydrate structure might affect how they are used by cells because carbohydrates with more rings with double bonds can provide more energy to the cells in an organism and are more likely to be eaten for long term usage. On the other hand, carbohydrates with less rings tend to provide a short burst of energy, but do not provide long term energy and can be unhealthy for the body. Thus, they are more likely to be used fors short energy bursts.

Not all tasters gave the same results for many reasons. One of them may be that the taste buds on people are all different and may analyze the taste of foods differently. Another may be that the opinions of people affect how things taste for them, thus it will be different for everyone. Finally, the lab depended on the amount of carbohydrate that you tasted, and everyone may have tasted a different amount, so the flavors may have been different based on the amount.

Humans taste sweetness because everyone has proteins that act as taste receptors and every time you eat something sweet, that sweet protein receptor goes off. The biochemical interaction that takes place in your taste buds sends a signal to a part of your brain that senses that you have eaten something sweet. Taste buds have different types of protein receptors, and everyone has a different percent of the different receptors, so depending on the amount of each kind you have, you may interpret something differently. (http://www.npr.org/2011/03/11/134459338/Getting-a-Sense-of-How-We-Taste-Sweetness)