Investigation into reducing sugar content of a variety of soft drinks (not diet).

Authors Avatar

Aim: Investigation into the reducing sugar content of a variety of soft drinks (not diet)

        

Background Knowledge:   

Reducing sugars:

Carbohydrates can be divided into two major groups known as the:

  • Sugars
  • Non-sugars

The sugars can then be divided down again into:

  • Simple sugars
  • Monosaccarides
  • Disaccharides

Reducing Sugars are all Monosaccarides.  Monosaccharides contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen and their general formula is (CHnO) n.    Reducing sugars possess a free aldehyde group and include the sugars glucose, galactose, fructose and lactose (but not sucrose).

Under alkaline conditions, this reactive aldehyde can reduce the Cu2+ ion in copper sulphate to the Cu+. Hydrated copper sulphate is blue whereas the insoluble copper oxide formed by reduction in alkali is red. When reducing sugars are heated with Benedict’s reagent a red precipitate of copper oxide, which is insoluble, is formed.  

Ingredients of the soft drinks I plan to use: 

Orange Fanta:

Ingredients: carbonated water, orange juice, sugar, corn syrup, phosphoric acid, artificial flavours

Lilt:

Ingredients: Carbonated water, sugar, pure pineapple and grapefruit juices (5%), citric acid, colourings

Ribena Spark: 

Ingredients: No artificial colours or flavours.  High levels of vitamin C — a measured serving gives you all of the vitamin C allowance that your body needs in a day.  Fruit is a major constituent of the drink.

Panda Lemonade:

Ingredients: Carbonated water, sugar, flavorings, preservative (sodium benzoate), sweetener (sodium saccharin), acidity regulator (trisodium citrate).

Hypothesis:  The reducing sugar content of a variety of soft drinks will be different.

The reducing sugar content of each soft drink should be different due to the fact that they are all made with different ingredients and are products of different companies therefore each different flavour would have a different sugar content.   The Ribena, Lilt and Orange Fanta all contain fruit juices, therefore I do expect reducing sugar content.  However, the types of fruit used in each of the drinks are different and therefore the reducing sugar content should be dissimilar.  

Join now!

Equipment:  

  • Colorimeter

A colorimeter is an instrument that measures the amount of light absorbed by a coloured solution.  Colorimeters can be used to determine the concentration of a coloured substance within a solution.  Therefore I will be able to produce a colorimeter calibration curve of reducing sugars and compare the absorbance of fruit drinks to the values of the reducing sugars.  A calibration curve can be prepared by plotting a graph of absorbance or transmittance against the various concentrations.

  • Range of soft drinks including (Fanta, Lilt, Ribena Sparks, Panda Lemonade, Sprite) The ...

This is a preview of the whole essay