Glucose is one of the "simple sugars" -- an ironic name, because the chemistry of these compounds is rather complex. The naming system for sugars reflects this complexity. Chemists use prefixes like alpha and beta to denote different versions of glucose and other sugar molecules.
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When you exercise, your muscle cells need to rapidly mobilize large amounts of glucose to provide energy. Only a quarter of this energy is actually converted to motion, however; the remainder is lost as heat.
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When your muscles can't get enough oxygen during a short burst of exercise, they start to make use of a pathway called lactic acid fermentation, which generates a small three-carbon compound called lactic acid or lactate as a byproduct of glucose breakdown.
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When food arrives in your stomach, it plunges into a warm bath of hydrochloric acid. This corrosive stew accelerates digestion and provides the right conditions to activate an important digestive enzyme also found in your stomach.
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Phenol is a toxic and corrosive compound often used in DNA extractions -- not exactly the kind of thing you want to eat. A variety of organic compounds, however, contain the same chemical group and structural features that distinguish phenol, and many of these other compounds are beneficial for your health.
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