Dextrose

The sandwich bread at my house has many mystery ingredients. I decided to make some bread of my own. The recipe called for iodized salt, which listed dextrose as an ingredient.

From my research, it is one of two types of glucose, called d-glucose. Dextrose is a simple carbohydrate with a high glycemic index and is used as cellular fuel(3). It has a chiral partner, L-glucose, which cannot be metabolized by the body (1).

Dextrose is a product of photosynthesis but is also created commercially from starches (1).

Dextrose is also marketed as a medication; it is injected into the body to treat hypoglycemia (2).

The University of Maryland Medical Center reported no side effects for dental or mental health (2). Though a simple carbohydrate, it seems to be an important sugar.

This leads me to the question, "Why is a scary-sounding sugar in my salt?" Good thing the Morton Salt website includes this on their Frequently Asked Questions page. According to Morton, the dextrose-salt ratio is 1 milligram dextrose to 2500 milligrams iodized salt. This small amount of dextrose stabilizes the sodium iodide molecole. (4)

1. http://www.3dchem.com/moremolecules.asp?ID=423&othername=Dextrose
2. http://www.umm.edu/altmed/drugs/dextrose-038800.htm
3. http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/magazine03/dextrose.htm
4. http://www.mortonsalt.com/faqs/food_salt_faq.html#q5