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Why Dextrose is Used in Sports Drinks and Supplements
The chemical makeup of dextrose is extremely similar to glucose, the sugar normally utilized by the human body. When dextrose is added as a supplement to sports drinks, the body readily sequesters it for both aerobic and anaerobic activities. Food additive supplier Bell Chem wishes to explain more pertinent information on dextrose and why you are more likely to find it rather than any other sugar additive in your sports drinks and supplements.
How dextrose affects the body
Dextrose is a simple carbohydrate commonly derived from either corn or wheat. Because its chemical formula almost mirrors that of glucose, the body absorbs it rapidly, leading to rapid increases in blood sugar levels. Since the blood supplies muscle fibers with energy in the form of ATP, and ATP runs on glucose, adding a supplement to the body containing dextrose will stimulate ATP to generate energy within muscle fibers. As the muscle fibers are able to contract more rapidly, the body is able to lift heavier weights, run faster, or jump farther than it could when blood sugar levels are depleted.
Dextrose for focus
The majority of the focus of dextrose is its ability to affect slow- and fast-twitch muscle fibers during exercise. However, dextrose has another superpower.
Your brain requires a huge amount of fuel to function. In fact, in ordinary situations, the brain usurps approximately 20%-25% of the available blood sugar. When the brain is tasked with mental exertion, that amount surpasses the normal amount of usage and it can quickly become fatigued, leading to slower reflexes, muddled thoughts, or “brain fog.” With a quick burst of dextrose in the form of a supplement or in an energy drink, those symptoms disappear post haste, and the brain’s functions resume as normal.
Dextrose for athleticism
When an athlete needs to perform in peak condition, an energy drink quickly reinvigorates a workout. From bodybuilders to long-distance marathon runners, energy drinks are ideal to keep going. Studies have proven dextrose works to increase muscle mass since when muscle fibers are depleted of sugar, they can no longer contract, and the athlete is forced to end the workout. Adding a dose of dextrose spurs the muscle fibers to continue contracting.
Most workouts, whether of short or long duration, necessitate two core requirements: carbohydrates and water. When either of these is a limiting factor, workouts diminish rapidly. An energy drink replenishes both, and workouts proceed.
Bell Chem is your food additive supplier based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) with hundreds of products stocked in their 50,000+ square-foot warehouse, including dextrose. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355) or send us a message.
Understanding the Uses of Dextrose in Food Production
For quick energy, manufacturers turn to dextrose, a monosaccharide often found in performance bars and energy beverages. Dextrose can be derived from many plants, but is primarily pulled from grains, and most specifically corn starch where it is abundant. Once it is dried and/or crystallized, it is generally sold as a powder of liquid. Learn more about dextrose’s many uses in food production and order yours from your food ingredient supplier, Bell Chem, today.
Blood sugar and dextrose
With a glycemic index of 100, dextrose rapidly increases blood sugar levels and, because it is a type of glucose produced outside the body, it can be utilized to produce ATP, the most abundant form of energy within the body’s cells. In the liver glucose is regularly produced when hormones determine levels of blood sugar have dropped. Being chemically identical to glucose, dextrose fills that role when the liver is unable to do so. This rapid blood sugar boost stimulates muscles in short bursts, giving sprinters and power lifters the quick energy necessary to perform. Dextrose is also a go-to ingredient in energy gels, which are popular in endurance running, cycling, or training.
High energy, low sweetening
Most consumers believe sugar has an extremely sweet flavor, but dextrose has a naturally low level of sweetness, giving it a starring role in protein shakes, power bars, desserts, and baked products.
The preservative power of dextrose
Along with its quick energy boost, dextrose has another use: it extends the shelf-life of packaged foods, such as jams and jellies, by deterring the growth of yeast, mold, bacteria, and other microbes.
When added to candy, ice cream, and syrup, dextrose impedes crystallization and caking. Producers appreciate this reaction since foods last longer on the shelf in stores and in consumers’ homes. Consumers enjoy the mouthfeel of products containing dextrose since it imparts the same texture and taste with every bite.
The invisible sugar
When added to water, dextrose quickly and evenly dissolves, becoming virtually invisible due to its low turbidity while only imparting a hint of sugary taste. Savory foods often have a high salt content, and dextrose balances the salt with a hint of sweet.
Bell Chem is a food ingredient supplier based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) with hundreds of products stocked in their 50,000+ square-foot warehouse, including dextrose. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355) or by sending us an online message.
Dextrose Uses in Food and Medicine
Dextrose, like the other simple monosaccharides fructose, galactose, and glucose, is often an ingredient in foods and medicines as an artificial sweetener. Unlike other sweeteners, dextrose is derived from the starch of corn. As a food and ingredient supplier, Bell Chem ensures its pure dextrose is food and pharmaceutical grade for your growing business.
Medical industry
Glucose is manufactured within the human body. When internal mechanisms fail and the body is not able to produce adequate amounts of blood glucose, the body negatively reacts by altering brain functionality and metabolic processes. Physicians often intervene with intravenous dextrose. Dextrose is chemically identical to glucose, so the body is able to utilize it in the same methods it would with glucose and raise low blood sugar levels rapidly. Dextrose tablets or gels are often prescribed for patients prone to episodes of low blood sugar.
When the body’s ready stores of water are depleted, it becomes dehydrated. Most of the time drinking water alleviates dehydration, but sometimes medical intervention is necessary if a patient is not able to take in water orally. Dextrose is added to a saline solution given intravenously in the form of a rehydration drip.
Patients who are unable to take in food on a regular basis rely on dextrose, amino acids, and other nutrients to boost their caloric and nutritional intake and remove the risk of malnourishment. Dextrose is the carbohydrate component of the body’s main 3 nutritional components of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and fats may be given in many forms. Together these make up total parenteral nutrition (TPN) for patients unable to regularly consume liquids or solids.
Hyperkalemia is a medical condition where potassium levels are elevated. Dextrose followed by insulin is often administered since cells taking in dextrose are also taking in potassium, thereby lowering the potassium levels of the blood.
Alcohol intoxication is also treated with dextrose. In alcohol intoxication, the liver is no longer able to remove all the alcohol from the blood quickly enough and body systems begin to relax, including the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Intravenous fluid with 50% dextrose cleanses the blood of alcohol as it feeds the liver much-needed energy to repair and work properly.
Foods and beverages
Dextrose is dried or crystallized from corn or wheat starch, then added as a liquid or powder ingredient in foods and beverages. Not surprisingly, high fructose corn syrup contains dextrose. This product is used frequently in beverages and cereals, baked goods and packaged foods.
When foods are overly spicy or salty, dextrose is able to stabilize the flavors since it is only 80% as sweet as sucrose, thereby not overpowering the other flavors.
Some foodstuffs, such as jams, experience a longer shelf life with the addition of dextrose since it acts as a preservative.
Bodybuilders and other extreme athletes rapidly deplete energy stores when working out on a punishing schedule. Dextrose replenishes glycogen stored in the liver. Quickly restoring glycogen allows muscles to retain strength and add bulk.
Bell Chem is a food and ingredient supplier based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) with hundreds of products stocked in their 50,000+ square-foot warehouse, including CSANTM sanitation products. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355) or by sending us an online message.
Benefits of Crystalline Dextrose
Crystalline dextrose is a sugar used in thousands of products every day, but how much do you actually know about it? First, a definition: “crystalline” is a manufacturing term denoting the method of extracting sugar from, in dextrose’s case, corn, and refining it into a crystalized form from a concentrated solution. In other words, crystalline dextrose is concentrated crystals of corn sugar. Food ingredient supplier Bell Chem proudly carries Crystalline Dextrose for your manufacturing needs, and wishes to explain the benefits of this marvelous ingredient.
Changing Texture
Chewing gum is much more enjoyable when crystalline dextrose is an ingredient because it improves pliability as it sweetens. In jams and jellies, crystalline dextrose bulks the products for better spreadability. Many pre-mixed foods add crystalline dextrose to improve flowability and deter clumping, leading to a finer texture.
Fermentable Sugar
Crystalline dextrose provides the energy necessary to stimulate the fermentation process by adding as a feedstock for yeast. For this reason, it is regularly an ingredient in ciders and fruit wines. Because the amount of sugar in fruit drinks relies on the amount of sunlight, rain, and nutrients for that field, each field will have a slightly different sugar content. Crystalline dextrose stabilizes the sugar content from one batch of wine or cider to the next.
Sweetening Properties
At 4 Kcal per gram, crystalline dextrose has the same caloric content as sucrose but is chemically identical to glucose (the body’s natural sugar). Added to pastries, dairy products, dessert powders, breakfast cereals and processed meats, crystalline dextrose delivers a sweet, crunchy sheen. In beverages, cereal bars, and packaged snacks it enhances flavor by controlling sweetness.
When manufactured products contain crystalline dextrose, how does it benefit the body? Because dextrose is chemically equal to the body’s natural sugar, it is easily absorbed and quickly stabilizes blood sugar levels. Dextrose is an energy source for cellular metabolism where it delivers nutrients to muscles to enhance everyday life or strenuous workouts.
Bell Chem is your food ingredient supplier based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) with hundreds of products stocked in their 50,000+ square-foot warehouse, including CSANTM sanitation products. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355) or by sending us an online message.
Dextrose in the Food Industry
Most of the dextrose commonly manufactured today is hydrolyzed from corn and wheat starches, or the cellulose of woody plants. These high-energy products are refined into the dextrose we recognize in thousands of food and beverage brands worldwide. Your food ingredient supplier, Bell Chem, highlights some of dextrose’s major roles in the food industry.
The main role of dextrose is to provide energy to the body’s cells. In this respect, it is added to nutritional supplements and infant formulas to stimulate the metabolic process of cells. Many supplements that address the body’s peak energy demands contain dextrose to provide an almost immediate burst of energy.
Though dextrose is a sweetener, it adds a flavor other than sweet to products. Dextrose provides a cool, fruity flavor to confectionary goods. It is often noted that a food’s aroma is enhanced by dextrose as well.
Yeast utilizes dextrose for their metabolic functions, so adding dextrose to bakery products will increase yeast activity in a shorter amount of time; hence, breads rise higher and doughnuts are fluffier. In the beer and wine industry, dextrose’s ability to feed yeast accelerates the rate of fermentation.
Dextrose has an increased osmotic pressure compared to other sweeteners, which lengthens the shelf life of products when it is an ingredient.
Processed meats are often cured with nitrate and salt. These products are not always evenly distributed, leaving areas of pungent, overly salty meat. Adding dextrose diffuses the salt more evenly and improves the overall quality of flavor and color.
Over-the-counter dextrose tablets or gel supplements given to diabetic patients quickly compensate for low blood sugar levels. Intravenous drips are frequently dextrose-based to sustain normal body functions while patients are unable to ingest food or their health situations prevent them from eating.
Bell Chem is a food ingredient supplier based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) with hundreds of products such as dextrose stocked in its 50,000+ square-foot warehouse. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355) or by sending us an online message.
Dextrose
Dextrose, also known as glucose, is chemically considered to be a simple sugar and is the main source of energy for the body. Glucose serves as the major source of energy for living cells. It is carried to each cell through the bloodstream. The body makes glucose from all three elements of food (protein, fat and carbohydrates), but mostly from carbohydrates. Doctors sometimes give dextrose to patients via fluids containing varied amounts of sugars when their bodies cannot get enough sugars. Dextrose is usually administered through injection and given at a doctor’s office, hospital or clinic. For example, when diabetic hypoglycemia is severe enough to cause unconsciousness, it may require intravenous dextrose.
Endurance athletes can benefit from taking dextrose. Also, those who are looking to maximize their muscle building and weight gain from workouts benefit from taking dextrose supplements after working out. Endurance athletes can get similar benefits by drinking a sports energy drink containing simple carbohydrates.
At Bell Chem in Orlando, dextrose is just one of the many products we offer. We also stock many highly specialized botanical and nutritional ingredients as well as hard to find technical grade chemicals and custom compounds. We at Bell Chem look forward to the opportunity to provide the highest quality products and service to your company. Give us a call at 407-339-BELL (2355).