Important Polysaccharides

Starch

Made of amylose and amylopectin

Most important source of carbohydrates in the diet

Sometimes called amylum, glucan, a plant storage polysaccharide

Glycogen

Found in the liver and the muscle

Precipitated by aqueous alcohol, stable in hot alkali

Dextran

Bacterial polysaccharide, found in yeast and bacteria

Used in medicine as a blood-plasma-volume expander to counteract acute shock

Cellulose

The simplest, most abundant structural polysaccharide

Purest form is cotton

Pectins

Found in the pulp of citrus fruits, apples, beets, and carrots

Utilized extensively in the industry because of its remarkable gel-forming ability

Alginic Acid

A structural polysaccharide of brown algae and kelp used in the industry as thickener, emulsifier, smoothening agent, stabilizer, and hydrophilic agent in medical and cosmetic ointment bases

Used as stabilizer, holds proteins in suspension, prevents their precipitation by ionic interactions

Caragheenan

Found in red seaweed

Used in the preparation of chocolate drinks to hold coco particles in suspension by forming salt-like bonds or ionic bonds with the positive groups of the milk protein, casein

Agar-Agar

Found in red algae

Used as a medium for bacterial culture and base of cosmetics and pharmaceutical preparations

Used to treat chronic constipation because of its relative indigestibility and its property of absorbing water, yields bulky fecal mass which is relatively soft to permit easy evacuation — a constituent of some laxatives and a thickening agent in foods

Chitin

Found in the shells of molds, crustaceans (crabs and lobsters) and insects

Gum Arabic or Gum Acacia

Used in the preparation of pharmaceuticals, confections, and adhesive materials