What is lactose made of?

If you’re a dairy lover, chances are that lactose has played a big role in your life. But do you really know what it’s made of? Don’t worry, fam; we’ve got your back! In this article, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at lactose and all the weird stuff it’s composed of.

The Basics

Before we dive into the specifics of lactose’s makeup, let’s start with some basics. Lactose is a type of sugar that naturally occurs in milk and milk-based products. It belongs to a family called disaccharides – more on those later.

Fun fact: Humans are born with enzymes designed specifically for breaking down lactose (called lactase), so babies can digest their mother’s breastmilk without an issue!

Dissecting Disaccharides

So…What exactly are disaccharides? Good question! They’re essentially molecules formed by joining two simple sugars called monosaccharides together via something called glycosidic linkage.

Don’t be intimidated y’all! Glycosidic Linkage might sound like someone dropped pie filling on keyboard but just imagine making candy necklaces as kids because that was these scientists were doing only they didn’t have to break them apart when they wearied chewing 😉

Sucrose – also known as table sugar – is another popular member within this “family”. Unlike lactoblood-sugar levels highoses which share glue-like properties there’s awkwardness between those siblings…

Lacto-glycosidic linkage give them chemical vibes resulting in different solubility behaviors whilst sucroses don’t ring anything!

P.S- Do_not confuse_disaccharides_ with_polysaccarhiodes_- That topic will probably require its own spin-off article >:(

Complex Carbohydrates

As you’re reading this confettified-sans-Sex-and-the-city article, it’s imperative that we bring up carbohydrates.

Lactose belongs to a group of carbohydrates known as oligosaccharides. In other words, they’re small chains of monosaccharides (simple sugars), just like disaccharides! Except with longer necklaces….

While many people associate carbs with weight-gain, these guys actually work towards regulating cholesterol levels and avoiding constipation!

Intrigued yet?

The Science Behind Lactose’s Structure

Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty scientific slang…lactose is comprised of two main units: glucose and galactose. Don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that ring 😉 Who said science can’t be punny?

But wait there’s more!!! These two sugars are joined by none other than the Oβ-(l)-glycosidic bond !

We know right?? You want us to repeat ourselves don’t cha? It’s hard enough trying not to spit all over our laptop trying say this five times fast lol.

Simply put… This fancy term describes how those two sugar molecules come together via an oxygen atom in one molecule and through one carbonatomin the second molecule. Go tell your friends who take ‘fake flu’ breaks during chemistry class 😉

## Lactic Acid – Do Not Get Confused!

“Wait what? What does lactic acid have anything to do with lactose?”

Good question!!

Turns out lactic acid isn’t really related so much at all except both share lact prefix… Maybe some scientist was inspired on his trip to Italy 🤷 or perhaps in some parallel universe he breeds buffaloes…

Anyway…

While lactose is essentially made up of sugar molecules, which can break down into simpler ones once in your stomach, lactic acid is generated when your body breaks down glucose to produce energy. This can occur during stress or exercise!

An Interesting Fact about Lias

Did you know that some manufacturers use lactase – the enzyme I mentioned earlier? They add it into milk products such as cheese and yogurt to help break down lactose into its two building blocks: galactose and glucose.

Although those who are lactose intolerant, meaning their bodies have a harder time digesting lactose properly, would appreciate companies adding more of this… we’re sure they’d be happier if they never needed to look at it in the first place :/

In fact! Some sensitive souls even rely solely on supplements or dietary alterations… A sad but pressing amount of people 🙁

Evolutionary Science Time!

Why do humans produce enzymes specifically designed for breaking down lactose, when most mammals don’t?

Turns out early human ancestors developed dairy farming techniques over 10,000 years ago – before that point no one could drink cow’s/nanny/llama etc milk —Imagine drinking camel’s milk (yup it exist!) chilled with stripy-metal straws like those tiny coconut thingies…

Whilst other animals lose the ability to consume diary after nursing phase was done our lovable species persisted. Thanks agriculture!

Thus producing these enzymes became evolutionarily advantageous … And voila!! Lactase production became part of our genetic makeup 😉

Plus let’s be real ….Being able to indulge in cheesecake doesn’t hurt !

## Breaking It Down/Metabolism

Speaking of genetics, did you know that over 70% (that’s roughly 3 billion individuals) are partially or fully incapable metabolizing lactose ?!? Meaning their bodies cannot break it all apart leaving residue woohoo..

How so?

Picture an aesthetic restaurant where air-headed servers pour mini sugar cuplets delicately onto a cotton-white tablecloth. Lactose-intolerant individuals’ organs missed the sugar-cube crushing truck so they struggle absorbing all scattered pieces and pass them into large intestine yay!!

Now let’s not get confused with Milk Allergies_– Maybe people have stopped offering you free mum-infused baked goods?. Simply stated, being allergic to milk stem from proteins that are unrelated to lactose.

Final Thoughts

Well there you have it folks! You now know what lactose is made of – but please don’t try making synthetic lattes akin Walter White!

Who knew something as simple-seeming as milk-sugar could be so complex? Now go enjoy your morning latte without any worries…or maybe switch to almond-milk just for now 🙂


Summation of Insights :

Here’s everything we learnt about our favorite sugar:

  1. Lactose is a type of disaccharide — this means it is composed of two monosaccharides joined together via glycosidic linkage.
  2. However unlike sucrose, these bonds give rise to variation in solubility properties due different oxyate molecules involved which determines how easily it can dissolve in various compounds.
  3. The two building blocks galactose and glucose come together because of an Oβ-(l)-glycosidic bond.
  4. We make enzymes specifically designed for breaking down lactose due to early human diets being heavy on dairy farming resulting evolutionarily advantageous production techniques passed through generations
    5 over 70% (that’s roughly 3 billion individuals) partially or fully incapable metabolizing lactose leaving leftover residues..
  5. Milk allergies vs-lactase deficiency are often misconstrued by people sometimes themselves leading forward unfounded dietary modification/supplies/templates…

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