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Understanding Polysaccharides and Their Uses

Polysaccharides are polymers made of more than 10 monosaccharide units, with a degree of polymerization typically ranging from 200 to 3000, and can be classified as homoglycans or heteroglycans based on the uniformity of their monosaccharide units. They can be derived from various natural sources and are categorized into food polysaccharides, which include native and modified starches as well as non-starch polysaccharides known as hydrocolloids or food gums. These polysaccharides serve multiple functions in food applications, such as thickening, stabilizing, and binding.

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75 views2 pages

Understanding Polysaccharides and Their Uses

Polysaccharides are polymers made of more than 10 monosaccharide units, with a degree of polymerization typically ranging from 200 to 3000, and can be classified as homoglycans or heteroglycans based on the uniformity of their monosaccharide units. They can be derived from various natural sources and are categorized into food polysaccharides, which include native and modified starches as well as non-starch polysaccharides known as hydrocolloids or food gums. These polysaccharides serve multiple functions in food applications, such as thickening, stabilizing, and binding.

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ndichu3rene
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Polysaccharides

They consist of more than 10 monosaccharide units bound together by glycosidic bonds. The number of
monosaccharides in the polymer is referred to as the degree of polymerization (DP). Only a few polysaccharides
have DPs less than 100; most have DPs in the range 200–3000. The larger ones, like cellulose, have DPs of 7,000–
15,000 and starch DP > 60,000. The general scientific term for polysaccharides is glycans.
If all the monosaccharide units of a given polysaccharide are the same type, it is referred to a homoglycan.
Examples of homoglycans are cellulose and starch, they contain glucose units (D-glucopyranosyl units). When a
polysaccharide is composed of two or more different monosaccharide units, it is a heteroglycan. A polysaccharide
that contains two different monosaccharide units is a diheteroglycan; a polysaccharide that contains three different
monosaccharide units is a triheteroglycan, and so on. Examples of algins, guar and locust bean gums.

Figure 1. Branched and unbranched homopolysaccharides and heteropolysaccharides, different monosaccharides


represented by different colours.
In the shorthand notations of oligo- and polysaccharides, the glycosyl units are designated by the first
three letters of their names (with the first letter being capitalized), except for glucose, which is Glc. If the
monosaccharide unit is that of a D-sugar, the D is assumed and omitted; only L-sugars are so designated in
shorthand notations: for example, L-Ara for L-arabinose. The size of the ring is designated by an italicized p for
pyranose or f for furanose. The anomeric configuration is designated with α or β as appropriate; for example, a α-
D-glucopyranosyl unit is indicated as αGlcp. The position of linkages are designated either as, for example, 1→3
or 1,3. Using the shorthand notation, the structure of lactose is represented as βGalp (1→4) Glc or βGalp1,4Glc
and maltose as αGlcp(1→4)Glc or αGlcp1,4Glc.
Natural polysaccharides can be obtained from different sources like plants, animals, algae and
microorganisms (Figure 2). Although polysaccharides can be extracted and isolated from a variety of natural
sources, only a portion of them can be called food polysaccharides. “Food polysaccharides” is specially referred
as the polysaccharides that are approved for usage as food additives. Food polysaccharides are divided into two
categories; (1) native and modified starches and (2) non-starch polysaccharides, which are known as
hydrocolloids or food gums. Starches and modified starches have many foods uses including adhesives, binding,
clouding, dusting, film-forming, foam-strengthening, gelling, glazing, moisture-retaining, stabilizing, texturing
and thickening applications. Hydrocolloids or food gums are used ad thickeners, stabilizers, binders, gelling
agents in food applications.

Figure 2. Natural polysaccharide classified based on their origin

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