Larger Glycemic Index Results in Higher Rate of CO2 Production in Yeast

Abstract

Yeast uses fermentation as its main source of energy using carbohydrates to produce heat and create CO2, ethanol, and ATP. In this experiment, we tested the difference in the rate ofCO2 production between glucose and honey to find if there was a correlation between glycemic index and the amount of CO2 produced, which we measured in ppm. This is due to the fact that there is a higher concentration of usable carbohydrates in higher glycemic indexes compared to carbohydrates with lower glycemic indexes. The results of our experiment supported this as the higher glycemic index produced a significantly higher amount of CO2 proportional to the change in glycemic index. This occurred because honey only has half the optimal composition for optimal carbohydrate usage due to the fact that it is only half the glycemic index of glucose, since it is composed of half glucose and half fructose.