Glucose fasting glucose test done, then drinks a 75-gram glucose drink and is retested. This test measures the ability of the person's body to process glucose. Over time the blood glucose levels should decrease as insulin allows it to be taken up by cells and exit the blood stream. An increased intake of glucose leads to obesity and, in consequence, partly to the metabolic syndrome with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, but not the consumption of glucose as part of a normal calorie intake. Individuals with diabetes or other conditions that result in low blood sugar often carry small amounts of sugar
Glycogen found that muscular tissue also contains glycogen. The empirical formula for glycogen of () was established by Kekulé in 1858. Glycogen synthesis is, unlike its breakdown, endergonic—it requires the input of energy. Energy for glycogen synthesis comes from uridine triphosphate (UTP), which reacts with glucose-1-phosphate, forming UDP-glucose, in a reaction catalysed by UTP—glucose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase. Glycogen is synthesized from monomers of UDP-glucose initially by the protein glycogenin, which has two tyrosine anchors for the reducing end of glycogen, since glycogenin is a homodimer. After about eight glucose molecules have been added to a tyrosine residue, the enzyme glycogen synthase progressively lengthens