Sweetness Lab

        In the sweetness lab, we looked at the sweetness of different sugars, including sucrose, galactose, maltose, lactose, and starch: we found that in general, monosaccharides were the sweetest and polysaccharides were the most bland. This was supported by our high ratings (with 100 being the base sweetness of sucrose) of 150 and 70 for glucose and fructose, respectively, and our low ratings of 0 for starch and cellulose; monosaccharides averaged about an 83.3 on our scale, disaccharides a 45, and polysaccharides a 0. This data supports our claim, as the differences between the different sugar types were both significant and consistent. The carbohydrate structures of the different sugars likely affected their sweetness; our results also supported this, with the monosaccharides with the least rings and bonds being much sweeter than the polysaccharides with the most.

The sugar samples in order of sweetness

The different sugars tested

       As with any experiment, the sweetness lab results were not without flaws or inconsistencies. The testers often gave different ratings for the samples, which probably resulted from various taste sensitivities of the testers or slightly varying samples. In addition, as subjective ratings made up most of the experiment, many testers likely had contrasting impressions of the sweetness of the sugars. Even the amounts of sugar in each sample were arbitrary, which could have led to a skewed perception. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, taste is linked to smell, and different taste buds on the tongue have varying degrees of sensitivity to different tastes. This could have further influenced testers to record contrasting results. All in all, the sweetness of different sugars are affected by many factors, some of which are very difficult to control.

Sweetness lab results