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Trehalose is a 1-alpha sugar found extensively in nature. It is thought to be implicated in xerobiosis - the ability of plants and animals to withstand prolonged periods of dessication. The sugar is thought to form a gel phase as cells dehydrate, which prevents disruption of internal cell organelles by effectively splinting them in position. Rehydration then allows normal cellular activity to be resumed without the major, generally lethal damage that would normally follow a dehydration/reyhdration cycle.
Chemistry
Trehalose is formed from two glucose units joined by an alpha bond. The bonding makes trehalose very resistant to acid hydrolysis, and therefore stable in solution at high temperatures. The enzyme trehalase, present but not abundant in most people, breaks it into two glucose molecules which can then be readily absorbed in the gut.
Trehalose is less soluble than sucrose, except at temperatures around 80 to 100C.
Use
Trehalose has also found commercial application as a food sweetener.
The development has come out of Japan, where enzyme based processes have been developed to convert wheat and corn syrups.
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