Glucose imparts a mildly sweet flavor to food. It seldom exists as a monosaccharides on food but is usually joined sugars to form disaccharides, starch or dietary fiber.
Fructose tastes the sweetest of all the sugars and occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables. Fructose also called fruit sugar or levulose.
The largest amount of fructose in American diets is added to foods when they are processed, such as the addition of high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener.
Galactose seldom found free in nature, galactose is part of lactose, the sugar found in milk.
The galactose formed combines with glucose to form lactose, which is secreted by mammals in the milk to sustain their young.
A derivative of galactose, galacturonic acid, is a component of pectin, which is very important in the ripening of fruits and the gelling of jams.
Monosaccharides in food
