International Board of Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) Practice Exam

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Lactose is classified as what type of sugar?

Monosaccharide
Disaccharide
Oligosaccharide
Polysaccharide

The correct answer is: Disaccharide

Lactose is classified as a disaccharide because it is composed of two monosaccharides: glucose and galactose. Disaccharides are carbohydrates formed from the combination of two monosaccharide units through a glycosidic bond. In the case of lactose, this bond forms between the glucose and galactose molecules. Understanding the structure of lactose helps illustrate its function in nutrition, particularly for infants who rely on lactose as a primary source of energy from breast milk. This classification also distinguishes lactose from other sugars like monosaccharides, which consist of single sugar units, oligosaccharides, which contain a few sugar units (typically 3-10), and polysaccharides, which are long chains of monosaccharide units. Each class of sugar plays different roles in biological processes and nutrition.