There are about twenty naturally occuring monosaccharides. Monosaccharides are best explained uksing the example of glucose. Glucose is a component of all living cells with a chemical formula of C6H12O6. Glucose is found primarily in fruits. Almost all of the sugar entering the body is converted to glucose since it is used as the primary source of energy in the body.
Disaccharides are one of the smallest oligosaccharides.
When two monosaccharides combine to form a disaccharide they can form either an alpha or beta linkage. Sucrose is a combination of glucose and fructose with a chemical formula of C12H22O11. Sucrose is common table sugar. Maltose is made up of the linkage of two glucose molecules. It is found in corn syrup, malted cereals, and sprouting grains.