ABSTRACT
Fructose, also called levulose and fruit sugar, is a naturally occurring hexose. It has been used as a sweetener in special foods for diabetics since that time. The two major sources of fructose in the US diet are cane sugar and high-fructose corn sweeteners. A fructose solution is sweetest when it is dilute, cool, and slightly acidic, making it a useful sweetener in soft drinks. Fructose is the predominant monosaccharide in a number of fruits including apples, cherries, currants, and pears. Honey contains slightly more fructose than glucose, corn sugar is almost completely glucose, cane and maple sugar are predominantly sucrose, and molasses contains mostly sucrose, but also is about 8% fructose. The enzymatic conversion of glucose to fructose was first introduced commercially in 1967. In 1981 cane sugar consumption had decreased to less than 80 lb per capita and high-fructose corn sweeteners had increased to about 20 lb.
