Sugar Toxicity—Fundamental Molecular Mechanisms: α-Dicarbonyl, Electron Transfer, and Radicals

Abstract

There has been much recent attention devoted to sugar toxicity. There are claims of danger equal to that from alcohol and tobacco. This review provides a summary of the toxic aspect, mainly involving glucose, fructose, and galactose. Chronic hyperglycemia is a characteristic of the diabetic condition, in which glucose toxicity is akin to that of ethanol. The metabolite major pathway for galactose metabolism is believed to be conversion to glucose. A focus is on the novel, α-dicarbonyl toxic mechanism. This functionality is potentially capable of electron transfer leading to toxic reactive oxygen species. Large numbers of toxic reactions are cited.

Keywords:

• Sugar
• Toxicity
• α-Dicarbonyls
• Electron transfer
• Mechanism

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Editorial assistance by Thelma Chavez is acknowledged.