Nutritional Value of Traditional Syrian Sweets and their Calorie Density
Abstract
Information on food composition is of great importance for scientists and professionals working in the fields of nutrition and public health. The most apparent role of food composition is to provide the basis for dietary assessment and the formulation of healthier diets. Ready meals and food served in canteens are increasingly included in this approach
considering their contribution to daily nutrition. There have been no studies that presented the nutritional values of some traditional Syrian sweets. This study was the first study to shed some lights about the nutritional facts of the traditional Syrian sweets. Seventeen different
traditional Syrian sweets both regular calorie content (regular where sucrose was used as sweetener) and reduced calorie content (diet as Aspartame sweetener was used) were analyzed for moisture, ash, carbohydrates, protein and fat content and finally calorie density per 100 g was calculated. The study also measured the calorie content of few sweets which we did not find diet ones similar to them.The results have shown that Syrian sweets in general are very calorie dense foods due to their high content of sugar, fat and other sweeteners such as honey and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). The calorie density ranges from 347.5 Kcal to 516.2 Kcal/ 100 g serving for diet sweets and 372.8 Kcal to 532.2 Kcal/100 g serving for regular sweets. Protein ranged from 5.6 g to 18.4 g and fat from 5.5 to 29.8 g/100g serving.
How to cite this article: Labban L, Thallaj N, Masri MA. Nutritional Value of Traditional Syrian Sweets and their Calorie Density. J Adv Res Food Sci Nutr 2020; 3(1): 34-41.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2582.3892.202005
References
Greenfield H, Southgate DAT. Food Composition Data 2nd Edition: Production, Management and Use. Elsevier Science Publishers, FAO, Rome. 2003.
Nielsen SS. Food analysis. Third Edition, Springer, USA. 2003.
Institute of Food Technology. Effect of food processing on nutritive values. Food Technol 1986; (12): 109-116.
Livingstone MB, Rennie KL. Added sugars and micronutrient dilution. Obes Rev 2009; 1: 34-40. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-789X.2008.00563.x.
Matthew AF. Energy content in a candy bar. Cal Poly University’s Journal 2009; 1132: 23-31.
Lobstein T, Davies S. Defining and labelling ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ food. Public Health Nutr 2009; 12(3): 331-340.
Grunert and Wills. A review of European research on consumer response to nutrition information on food labels. Journal of Public Health 2007; 15(5): 385-399
Pietinen P, Paturi M, Reinivuo H et al. FINDIET 2007 Survey: energy and nutrient intakes. Public Health Nutr 2010; 13(6A): 920-924. doi: 10.1017/S1368980010001102.
Variyam JN. Do nutrition labels improve dietary outcomes? Health Econ 2008; 17(6): 695-708.
Meirelles A, Handwerk R. Dietary Fructose and Glucose Differentially Affect Lipid. The Journal of Nutrition 2009; 139. 1257S-1262S.
Zimmerman TP, Hull SG, McNutt S et al. Challenges in converting an interviewer-administered food probe database to self-administration in the National Cancer Institute Automated Self-administered 24-Hour Recall (ASA24). J Food Compost Anal 2009; 22(1): S48-S51. doi: 10.1016/j.jfca.2009.02.003
Hyvonen L. Synergism between sweeteners. In: Carbohydrate sweeteners in foods and nutrition. Koivstionen P. Hyvonen L. (Eds) Academic, London. 1980.
Fogliano V, Maiani G, Quaglia G. Seasonal variations in antioxidant components of cherry tomatoes (Lycopersicones culentum cv. Naomi F1). Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 2006; 19(1): 11-19.
Jakszyn P et al. Development of a food database of nitrosamines, heterocyclic amines, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. J Nutr 2004.
Birlouez-Aragon I, Saavedra G, Tessier FJ et al. A diet based on high-heat-treated foods promotes risk factors for diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. Am J ClinNutr 2010; 91(5): 1220-1226. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.28737.
Merchant AT, Dehghan M. Food composition database development for between country comparisons. Nutr J 2006; 19(5): 2.
Grenby TH. Intense sweeteners for the food industry. An overview. Trends in food Sci and Tech 1991; 2(1): 2-6.
Branen AL, Davidson PM, Saminene G. Food Additives, Sweeteners. Marccl Dekker, INC,N.Y. and Basel, Chapter 1990; 8: 297-323.
Giese JH. Alternative sweeteners and bulking agents. Food Technology 1993; 47(1): 114-126.
Franta R, Beck B. Sweeteners. Alternative to cane and beet sugar. J Food Techno 1986; 40(1): 116-128.
Lecos CW. Sweetness minus calories- controversy. FDA Consumer, 1985; 19(2): 18.
A.O.A.C. Official Methods of Analysis. 17th ed. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Published by the Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Inc. USA. 2002.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Journal of Advanced Research in Food Science and Nutrition
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
We, the undersigned, give an undertaking to the following effect with regard to our article entitled
“_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________” submitted for publication in (Journal title)________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________Vol.________, Year _________:-
1. The article mentioned above has not been published or submitted to or accepted for publication in any form, in any other journal.
2. We also vouchsafe that the authorship of this article will not be contested by anyone whose name(s) is/are not listed by us here.
3. I/We declare that I/We contributed significantly towards the research study i.e., (a) conception, design and/or analysis and interpretation of data and to (b) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content and on (c) final approval of the version to be published.
4. I/We hereby acknowledge ADRs conflict of interest policy requirement to scrupulously avoid direct and indirect conflicts of interest and, accordingly, hereby agree to promptly inform the editor or editor's designee of any business, commercial, or other proprietary support, relationships, or interests that I/We may have which relate directly or indirectly to the subject of the work.
5. I/We also agree to the authorship of the article in the following sequence:-
Authors' Names (in sequence) Signature of Authors
1. _____________________________________ _____________________________________
2. _____________________________________ _____________________________________
3. _____________________________________ _____________________________________
4. _____________________________________ _____________________________________
5. _____________________________________ _____________________________________
6. _____________________________________ _____________________________________
7. _____________________________________ _____________________________________
8. _____________________________________ _____________________________________
Important
(I). All the authors are required to sign independently in this form in the sequence given above. In case an author has left the institution/ country and whose whereabouts are not known, the senior author may sign on his/ her behalf taking the responsibility.
(ii). No addition/ deletion/ or any change in the sequence of the authorship will be permissible at a later stage, without valid reasons and permission of the Editor.
(iii). If the authorship is contested at any stage, the article will be either returned or will not be
processed for publication till the issue is solved.
