Alpha Galactosidase Lab Report

Background: Many people experience excessive gas, bloating, and discomfort in the intestinal areas. While there are other contributing causes, food is the one variable that mainly causes these problems, such as: broccoli, beans, dairy products, grains, etc. Beans, for example, contain oligosaccharides that makes it hard for the body to digest. These carbohydrate rich foods makes digesting difficult because they all contain high-fiber, starch, lactose, etc. Beano® is a product that helps aid in digestion. One tablet is to be ingested before a meal in order to reduce gas. It contains two enzymes: alpha galactosidase and invertase. Alpha galactosidase (a-galactosidase for short) is an enzyme that helps break down oligosaccharides, or complex carbohydrates,

Compare the result to the chart on the back of the urinary pH test strips bottle, and record data.
Clean the stirring rod with water before moving on to the next test tube.
Repeat this process for each increment (2 mL, 3mL, 4mL)

Figure #1: Picture of bean solution mixed Figure #2: Picture of materials needed for the with alpha galactosidase experiment

Safety considerations: Be careful with the beakers, glass stirring rod, and test tubes, as they could break easily and can cause cuts in the skin.

DCP: A scatter plot will be used to display how the amount of alpha galactosidase (measured in mL) in the bean solution affects the glucose concentration (measured in mg/dL) and error bars to show the standard deviation. A line of best fit will be used to show the relationship between the glucose concentration and the amount of alpha galactosidase.

Table 2: Glucose concentration based on the amount of alpha galactosidase in bean solution
Amount of a-galactosidase
(mL)
Glucose concentration (100mg/dL)
Average glucose concentration
Standard Deviation

Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Trial 4
Trial

However, for trials 1 and 2, the glucose concentration barely increased, possibly due to human error. (see table #2) In those first two trials, I mixed the bean solution with the water that rests on top of it, simply because I didn’t know that it would make a difference. After those two trials, I noticed that the results weren’t changing, and only then did I decide to dispose the bean water. Disposing the bean water made a dramatic difference, since the results increased drastically afterwards. (see table #2) The mixture with the bean water caused the solution to not be as concentrated, limiting the amount of oligosaccharides that the alpha galactosidase can break down, therefore resulting in a small amount of glucose concentration. The highest stand standard deviation is at 4 mL of alpha galactosidase, which is 185.742. The lowest standard deviation is at 0 mL and 1 mL of alpha galactosidase, which is 0. Since error bars are not all overlapping, it shows that there was a significant difference (see figure #3). However, the R squared value is 0.929, meaning that it is close to fitting the line of best fit. As the amount of alpha galactosidase increased, the glucose concentration also increased. This resulted in the positive trend of the graph and a steeper slope. When 4 mL of alpha galactosidase was added to the bean solution, the result evened out, and didn’t change as drastically