Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello,
I am working with my daughter on her school science project. I told her I seen this video where they used a glucometer to test the sugar levels in a drop of pepsi and coke which showed a difference. She found this interesting, and asked if we tested everyday things kids eat like ketchup, pancake syrup, yohoo chocolate milk ect. would this a good science experiment. I didn't know and asked a doctor friend and she said that is something shes never thought of and you would have to come up with some type of conversion chart. Looking at Nutrition facts chart on the back of a food, it show sugar in grams. The glucometer measures the glucose in blood. Is there a way to conduct this test and if so, what step should followed?
I am in no way smart when it comes to stuff like this. I work in a wood shop.
Thank you for any help you can give me.

Hi and welcome to Scibuddies. I hope we can help you and your daughter create an interesting science project. First, though, let me clear up a common misunderstanding in science. A project needs to have a question that you ask. In science lingo this is called the hypothesis. It is a statement of what you think will happen if you do certain things. Now in your case your daughter is interested in measuring the sugar content of foods. That's great, but why does she want to do that? What would be the hypothesis that she wants to test?

Scibuddies has a project already set up for testing the amount of sugar in various foods using an enzyme that converts sucrose into glucose (https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... metabolism). The glucose is then measured by using test strips that turn colors indicating different concentrations of glucose. One thing you need to know is that a glucose test strip and a blood glucose meter like diabetics use will not read sucrose. Sucrose is a sugar but it is chemically different from glucose. You can, however, use an enzyme called invertase that converts all the sucrose into glucose that can be measured.

Now if you want to ask the question--Can I use a glucometer to measure sugar in foods?--you could test that as a hypothesis and compare your results to testing foods and beverages using the glucose test strips. That would be an actual experiment where you get data--the % of glucose that you measure.

Take a look at the Scibuddies project at the link above and see if it would be something your daughter would like to try. It is also a good idea since you aren't that familiar with how to set up and test a hypothesis to read the Scibuddies tutorials on doing this. These Project Resources have really good basic information that all science students need to follow in doing their science project. Here's the links:

Writing a hypothesis for your science project: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... hypothesis

Variables in your science project: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... /variables

Conducting a science experiment: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... experiment

There is a lot more information if you search the Scibuddies website, but this will be a good start. Please post again when you have decided on a plan and we will be happy to help you with the details.

Good luck!

Sybee