LAUSR

Abstract Excessive consumption of added sugar is related to poor health outcomes. However, information on sugar content of Asian food is limited. Thus, this study aimed to determine the type of and total sugar contents in 120 Malaysian foods and beverages using high performance liquid chromatography. The foods were chosen based on their popularity among Malaysian adults. The samples were collected in triplicates from local restaurants or stalls located in the state of Selangor, Perak and Johor. Results showed that average sugar content for the processed foods, local desserts, fruits, snacks, beverages and cooked dishes were 26.1%, 13.7%, 12.2%, 11.8%, 8.8%, 7.6% and 2.3% respectively. The highest sugar content in each food category was found to be the palm sugar (87.3%), sweet potato donut (24.8%), Cavendish banana (20.4%), mashed banana fritter (21.1%) cocoa flavored drink with sweetened creamer (10.7%) and noodle in sweet potato gravy (6.2%). The lowest sugar was found to be dhal fritter (0.3%). Sucrose was the main type of sugar found in this study, followed by maltose, glucose, fructose and lactose. These findings can be used in better estimation of sugar intake and to update the Malaysian food composition database.