Abstract

The statement made in some standard textbooks that Benedict's qualitative test gives a green, yellow, or orange-red precipitate with pure solutions of glucose of varying strength has been shown to be incorrect. Pure solutions of glucose give only a bright red precipitate at all concentrations. These changes in the colour of the suspensions are observed with urinary glucose only.

The difference in the action of glucose in water and in urine has been shown to be mostly due to creatinine and to a small extent to the histidine content of urine. The colour of the precipitate depends not only on the concentration of glucose but also on that of creatinine. An increase in concentration of creatinine tends to make the precipitate more yellow. Histidine has a similar though much smaller effect. Attention has been drawn to possible errors in the semi-quantitative assay of urinary glucose by Benedict's test arising out of variation in concentration of creatinine and histidine.