Sweetness Lab Analysis

1. We found that sugars that were monosaccharides were especially sweet, disaccharides were moderately sweet, and polysaccharides were not sweet at all. During the experiment, we taste tested a variety of sugars, and found that fructose a monosaccharide was the sweetest sugar with a score of 175, 100 being the standard sweetness on a scale from 0-200. Tasting maltose, a sugar found in beer, we found that it was semi-sweet at about a 75 to 100 sweetness. Finally, when tasting cellulose, a polysaccharide, there was no sweetness at all, and it came up with a score of 0. This data shows that proves our claim because the monosaccharides proved to be the sweetest and the polysaccharides were the least sweet.




2. Usually, monosaccharides are found in liquids or juices such as fructose, found in honey and fruits, and galactose which is found in milk. These are usually used as a source of energy for cells and organisms because they are the easiest to break down. Disaccharides are similarly mainly used for for energy because they are easy to break down, and are found in milk(lactose) and maltose(beer). Polysaccharides are used for energy storage in plants, and in humans they are used for energy and take a longer time to digest.

3. There are a couple of reasons why each taster could have given a different sweetness ratings for the same sugar. One is because of the way each persons taste buds are physically different from each others and react to foods a different way. Another reason is the fact that some people like the taste better than others and this caused them to put a different sweetness level. The final reason is that the person may grade on a different scale, for example, one person could have said that 150 was sweet while someone else claims that 150 was super sweet instead.



4. Taste isn't just "taste" its also smell, texture, and even temperature. These factors, the smell and texture, could be factors in why different people taste sugars differently. Another reason, is the fact that are tongues have different structure altogether. A common myth about the tongue is that there are different zones that taste different things, but this is completely wrong. Although this my this myth is not true, the side of the tongue can taste better than the middle. So, if someones tongue tastes something better or worse, it could alter the rating of the sweetness of the sugar drastically.