Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!husc6!necntc!linus!philabs!aecom!werner
From: werner@aecom.YU.EDU (Craig Werner)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Glucose Digestion
Message-ID: <1872@aecom.YU.EDU>
Date: 29 Jun 88 05:10:04 GMT
References: <5193@super.upenn.edu>
Distribution: na
Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY
Lines: 22

In article <5193@super.upenn.edu>, li@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Siufai Li) writes:
> I have been told that humans can only digest R-glucose, but not L-glucose.
> But that both taste as sweet.  Therefore to get really rich, find a cheap
> way to make L-glucose.  Can anyone in netland confirm/deny this rumor?
> 

	Well, there's no such thing as R-glucose, the opposite of
L is D in sugars (as opposed to R,S when dealing with other chiral
molecules).  But the first assertion is true. L-glucose is just as
sweet, but is not digested.

	The bad news is that somebody's already thought of the idea,
and has it patented.  The stuff is slowly winding through FDA approval
as a food additive. And it is so expensive that the market for it isn't
projected to be that large. So much for get-rich-quick schemes.


-- 
	        Craig Werner   (future MD/PhD, 4 years down, 3 to go)
	     werner@aecom.YU.EDU -- Albert Einstein College of Medicine
              (1935-14E Eastchester Rd., Bronx NY 10461, 212-931-2517)
     "I never knew there was anything wrong with me till I met Dr. Hackenbush."