Amount and types of sugars in selected commercial and traditional kuih in Klang Valley, Malaysia

The aim of this study was to determine the specific content and type of sugars in selected commercial and traditional kuih in Klang Valley. The selection of the kuih was based on the validated Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) for sugar. The selected commercial kuih was doughnut coated with sugar (Big Apple) while the ten traditional kuih samples consisted of kuih bingka ubi, kuih kasui, kuih keria, kuih koci, kuih lapis, kuih lopes, kuih onde-onde, kuih sagu, kuih seri muka and kuih talam. The doughnut coated with sugar (Big Apple) was purchased from Big Apple Donuts and Coffee franchise at two different locations, while the traditional kuih were randomly bought from stalls, cafeterias and restaurants around Kuala Lumpur and Rawang. The types and amount of sugar were determined using High-Performance High Chromatography (HPLC) with a refractive index (RI) detector. Results showed that doughnut coated with sugar (Big Apple) has the highest starch content (22.6 +/- 0.3 g/100g) and kuih keria contained the highest available carbohydrate (41.5 +/- 1.7 g/100g), comprising of 24.2 +/- 2.4 g/100g total sugar and 17.3 +/- 0.7 g/100g of starch. The least available carbohydrate content was found in kuih talam (20.0 +/- 0.5 g/100g), which was 50% lower than the one in kuih keria. Major individual sugars detected in all kuih samples were consisted of sucrose (60.0%), glucose (16.2%), fructose (14.0%), maltose (9.5%) and lactose (0.3%). Majority of the kuih samples (90.9%) in this study can be categorized as medium sugar while only kuih keria was categorized as high sugar. Based on the two main ingredients (sugar and flour) used in the preparation of kuih, results showed that all kuih samples can be categorized as medium sugar-medium starch. In conclusion, this study served as a guideline by locals in selecting kuih of different sugar levels. (c) All Rights Reserved