Good question. Here’s a guide!
Objective
This guide aims to calculate the glucose:fructose ratio for a sports drink based on its nutrition facts and ingredient composition, ensuring clarity in the distribution of sugar sources. I can’t find the Torq page that listed the amounts of each ingredient (not listed on nutrition facts) which I had stumbled into before. So, I can’t speak to their ratio at the moment. But I can lay out a very detailed how-to guide!
Product Example **
Nutrition Facts Per Serving:
Total Carbohydrates: 20 gramsSugars: 17 gramsIngredients List:
Ingredients: Evaporated Cane Sugar, Maltodextrin, Dextrose, Natural Flavor, Sodium Citrate, SaltCalculation Steps**
**Step 1: **Ingredient Contributions
Evaporated Cane Sugar (Sucrose) contributes equally to glucose and fructose.Dextrose contributes solely to glucose and is part of the total sugars.Maltodextrin contributes to glucose, not typically included in ‘sugars’ but part of ‘total carbohydrates’.**Step 2: **Apportioning Sugars
Given that Dextrose is explicitly listed and contributes to the total sugars, it is important to account for its contribution accurately, while acknowledging that it should be ≤ the contribution from Maltodextrin based on their order in the ingredient list.
Assumption for Demonstration:
Dextrose: 2 grams (as a direct sugar, its contribution is subtracted from total sugars)Sucrose: Remaining sugars after subtracting Dextrose contribution = 15 grams (17g total sugars - 2g from Dextrose)*Clarification on Dextrose ≤ Maltodextrin *
Given the ingredients are listed by weight from most to least, the amount of Dextrose used is assumed to be less than or equal to Maltodextrin. This assumption helps in distributing the total carbohydrates accurately.
**Step 3: **Calculate Sugar Contributions
Sometimes there is still no way to know how much of each ingredient there is exactly. So, you end up with a “minimum contribution of glucose” and a “maximum contribution of glucose.” And the same for fructose. In this example I’ll just assume only 2g from dextrose, but it could be 1, or 1.5387585 or 0.5… any gram amount more than the next ingredient in line.
From Sucrose (15g):
Glucose: 7.5g (50% of 15g)Fructose: 7.5g (50% of 15g)From Dextrose (2g):
Glucose: 2g (100% of 2g)**Step 4: **Identifying Maltodextrin’s Contribution
Maltodextrin: The remaining carbohydrate content after accounting for sugars, presumed to be 3 grams (20g total carbohydrates - 17g total sugars).**Step 5: **Total Glucose and Fructose
Total Glucose: 7.5g (from sucrose) + 2g (from dextrose) + 3g (from maltodextrin) = 12.5gTotal Fructose: 7.5g (from sucrose)**Step 6: **Calculate the Overall Ratio
Glucose:Fructose Ratio: 12.5g glucose / 7.5g fructose = 1.67, rounded to the nearest tenth = 1.7:1To express the glucose:fructose ratio of 1.7:1 as 1:Y, where Y represents the amount of fructose relative to glucose, you can calculate Y by taking the reciprocal of the ratio. Thus, for a ratio of 1.7 to 1 (glucose to fructose), you would do the following calculation:
1 divided by 1.7 = approximately 0.59
So, expressed as 1:Y, the glucose:fructose ratio would be 1:0.6, rounded to the nearest tenth.
**Conclusion **
The glucose:fructose ratio for this sports drink, based on the provided nutrition facts and ingredient list, is calculated to be 1.7:1 or 1:0.6, taking into account the contributions of each sugar source per serving and ensuring the distribution aligns with ingredient listing order.
Additional Ingredient Composition **
I had GPT whip up a list of ingredients . I have not checked for accuracy but overall at first glance it looks accurate enough.
Sucrose (Table Sugar, Cane Sugar, Beet Sugar, White Sugar): 50% glucose, 50% fructoseGlucose (Dextrose, Corn Sugar, Blood Sugar, Grape Sugar): 100% glucose, 0% fructoseFructose (Fruit Sugar, Levulose): 0% glucose, 100% fructoseHFCS-55 (High Fructose Corn Syrup-55): 45% glucose, 55% fructoseHFCS-42 (High Fructose Corn Syrup-42): 58% glucose, 42% fructoseMaltodextrin: 100% glucose, 0% fructoseIsomaltulose (Palatinose): 50% glucose, 50% fructoseAgave Syrup (Agave Nectar): 10% glucose, 90% fructoseHoney: 30% glucose, 40% fructose (remainder other sugars)Maple Syrup: 50% glucose, 50% fructoseCoconut Sugar (Coconut Palm Sugar): 50% glucose, 50% fructoseDate Sugar: 50% glucose, 50% fructoseRice Syrup (Brown Rice Syrup): 100% glucose, 0% fructoseGalactose: 100% glucose (after liver conversion), 0% fructoseTapioca Syrup: 95% glucose, 5% fructoseBarley Malt Syrup: 100% glucose, 0% fructoseCorn Syrup: 100% glucose, 0% fructoseApple Juice Concentrate: 55% fructose, 45% glucosePear Juice Concentrate: 65% fructose, 35% glucoseGrape Juice Concentrate: 50% glucose, 50% fructoseMolasses: 50% glucose, 50% fructoseInvert Sugar (Inverted Sugar Syrup): 50% glucose, 50% fructoseTurbinado Sugar (Raw Sugar): 50% glucose, 50% fructoseRE: Edits: **Happy to edit all the above for accuracy if folks find holes. Let me know if you find an error, and I’ll get it edited and clarified.