BACK TO dextrose

dextrose vs. glucose

dextrose vs. glucose: What's the difference?

Glucose refers to a sugar with several chemical forms. One of the forms is dextrose (also called dextroglucose), which is found in fruit, animal tissue, and other natural substances. In use, typically dextrose refers to this sugar when found in food, while glucose refers to it when it’s in the bloodstream.

dextrose

[ dek-strohs ]
noun
  1. dextroglucose, commercially obtainable from starch by acid hydrolysis.

glucose

[ gloo-kohs ]
noun
  1. a sugar, C6H12O6, having several optically different forms, the common dextrorotatory form (dextroglucose, or d-glucose ) occurring in many fruits, animal tissues and fluids, etc., and having a sweetness about one half that of ordinary sugar, and the rare levorotatory form (levoglucose, or l-glucose ) not naturally occurring.
  2. a syrup containing dextrose, maltose, and dextrine, obtained by the incomplete hydrolysis of starch.

Compare More Commonly Confused Words