Carbohydrate colloids characteristics

The analysis of carbohydrates by CE has been reviewed by several authors as scientific papers or chapters of books. In fact, Chapter 7 by Khandurina in this handbook deals specifically with this topic. Carbohydrates have traditionally been classified by food researchers into sugars and polysaccharides, although mixtures of them such as glucose syrups are also used, taking advantage of their respective characteristics. Sugars are utilized for their sweetening power, preservative action (osmotic pressure), and crystallinity in foodstuffs polysaccharides provide foodstuffs with texture, body, and colloidal properties. 

C. Polysaccharides.—Carbohydrates of high molecular weight and colloidal dimensions. Like compoimd saccharides, they are formed from monosaccharide units, but, unlike compound saccharides, they have no typical sugar characteristics, such as sweetness and true solubility. Hence, it is assumed that in polysaccharides the sugar units are held together by some form of polymerisation, and not by simple condensation. 

These carbohydrates diJGfer profoundly from the sugars. Of high molecular weight, they do not form true solutions in water, but are either colloidal or insoluble. They have no sweet taste. They give none of the sugar reactions characteristic of aldose or ketose grouping. 

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