- fructose
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/fruk"tohs, frook"-, froohk"-/, n.Chem., Pharm. a yellowish to white, crystalline, water-soluble, levorotatory ketose sugar, C6H12O6, sweeter than sucrose, occurring in invert sugar, honey, and a great many fruits: used in foodstuffs and in medicine chiefly in solution as an intravenous nutrient. Also called levulose, fruit sugar.[1860-65; FRUCT- + -OSE2]
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It occurs in fruits, honey, syrups (especially corn syrup), and certain vegetables, usually along with its isomer glucose. Fructose and glucose are the components of the disaccharide sucrose (table sugar); hydrolysis of sucrose yields invert sugar, a 50:50 mixture of fructose and glucose. The sweetest of the common sugars, fructose is used in foods and medicines.* * *
a member of a group of carbohydrates known as simple sugars, or monosaccharides. Fructose, along with glucose, occurs in fruits, honey, and syrups; it also occurs in certain vegetables. It is a component, along with glucose, of the disaccharide sucrose, or common table sugar. Phosphate derivatives of fructose (e.g., fructose-1-phosphate, fructose-1,6-diphosphate) are important in the metabolism of carbohydrates.* * *
Universalium. 2010.