Sugar chemistry covers molecular structure and reactions; sugar biology covers how the body processes different sugars and what happens at the cellular level.

  • More on Sugar Chemistry — Monosaccharides, disaccharides, the Maillard reaction, caramelization, and Benedict’s test
  • Types of Sugar — Glucose, fructose, sucrose, lactose, maltose, structures, sweetness, and metabolic differences
  • Fructose vs. Glucose — How the two molecules differ structurally, how they’re metabolized differently, and why it matters
  • Sugar Fermentation, explained — Yeast metabolism, alcoholic vs. lactic acid fermentation, bread and beer chemistry
  • Alcoholic Fermentation in Yeast — The yeast-sugar reaction, glycerol and esters and fusel alcohols, temperature and pH and alcohol tolerance
  • What sugars can yeast ferment? — Glucose through maltotriose, why lactose resists bakers’ yeast, catabolite repression and attenuation
  • Fermentation of Glucose — The balanced equation, mass and ATP yields, glycolysis to acetaldehyde to ethanol
  • More on Sugar and Photosynthesis — How plants make glucose from CO₂ and water; the Calvin cycle; C3, C4, and CAM plants
  • Glycemic Index — What GI measures, what affects it, how glycemic load differs, and where the research is contested
  • Natural vs. Added Sugar — FDA definitions, metabolic differences, where the distinction matters and where it doesn’t