Artificial Sweetener Lab Report

Natural and artificial sweeteners both store potential energy, but are broken down in different ways Splenda, composed primarily of sucralose, and Equal, composed primarily of aspartame, are examples of artificial sweeteners. Sucrose, a disaccharide of fructose and glucose, and honey are examples of sweeteners produced naturally. Honey is a unique sweetener produced from the enzymatic breakdown of regurgitated nectar from namely, honey bees (genus Apis). Honey is a great substitute to artificial sweeteners and is known to have anapestic and health related properties (Edwards et al, 2016). Honey is composed primarily of monosaccharides: fructose and glucose; and a variety of disaccharides, like sucrose (Edwards et al, 2016).

Saccharides

In the process of breaking down sugar, ethanol and carbon dioxide are produced. When there is more energy available, more ethanol is produced and subsequently so is carbon dioxide. The amount of carbon dioxide released can be measured by the air gap established in the respirometer. In this experiment, the single-celled fungi Saccharomyces, known as yeast, is used to consume and convert the sugars to ethanol and carbon dioxide. In this experiment, the Independent variable is the type of sugar being used by the yeast and the dependent variable is the size of the air gap in the respirometer after two

The average person consumes, on a daily basis, three times the recommended amount of sugar (Nemoseck et al, 2010). Since this experiment has shown very little variance in the amount of potential energy stored in the different types of sugar, honey as a substitute for sweeteners should be considered. Honey not only provides glucose need for cellular metabolism but provides antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals (Edwards et al, 2016). Honey can also help regulate body weight and provide for improved cardiovascular health (St Pierre et al,