Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 25 No 6 (2021): 998 - 1006

 

 

 

 

ANALYSIS OF SUGAR CONTENT IN SELECTED CHILDREN’S HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS IN MALAYSIA

 

(Analisa Kandungan Gula dalam Suplemen Kesihatan Kanak-Kanak Terpilih yang Biasa didapati di Malaysia)

 

Siok-Yee Chan¹, Mazidatulakmam Miskam², Shangeetha Ganesan²*

 

¹School of Pharmaceutical Sciences

²School of Chemical Sciences

Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Penang, Malaysia

 

*Corresponding author:  shangeetha@usm.my

 

 

Received:  24 September 2021; Accepted: 7 November 2021; Published:  27 December 2021

 

 

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of the various types of sugars in over-the-counter children’s health supplements that are commonly available in Malaysia. In this study, a total of 13 children’s health supplement samples of four different brands (tablets, pastilles, gummies) of various flavors (orange, blackcurrant, strawberry, mixed berries, mango and peach) were sent to an independent laboratory and analyzed for the presence of fructose, glucose, galactose, sucrose, maltose, lactose and total sugar content. The sugar profiling was carried out using HPLC with refractive index (RI) detector. The results showed that all brands contain a considerable amount of sugar as compared to the label claimed active content. Although this is expected, as it is important for addition of sugars in supplements targeting children especially for ease of consumption. Peach flavored pastilles were found to contain the most amount of sucrose per piece followed by strawberry flavored gummies. Through this study we found that certain flavoring calls for more sugar content as compared to others. The findings further provide support for the need of more comprehensive sugar content and active ingredients labelling in health supplements.

 

Keywords:  health supplement, sugar, children, Malaysia, flavor

 

Abstrak

Tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk menyelidik kelaziman pelbagai jenis gula dalam suplemen kesihatan kanak-kanak yang biasanya terdapat di kaunter di Malaysia. Dalam kajian ini, sebanyak 13 sampel suplemen kesihatan kanak-kanak dari empat jenama yang berbeza (tablet, pastil, gummies) dengan pelbagai rasa (oren, anggur hitam, strawberi, campuran beri, mangga dan pic) telah dihantar ke makmal bebas dan dianalisis untuk menentukan kehadiran fruktosa, glukosa, galaktosa, sukrosa, maltosa, laktosa dan jumlah kandungan gula. Profil gula dilakukan menggunakan HPLC dengan detektor indeks biasan (RI). Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa semua jenama mengandungi kandungan gula yang agak tinggi berbanding dengan label yang menyatakan kandungan aktifnya. Keputusan ini telah dijangkakan kerana penambahan gula dalam makanan tambahan untuk kanak-kanak memudahkan pengambilan. Pastil berperisa pic didapati mengandungi jumlah sukrosa paling banyak per pastil diikuti dengan gummies berperisa strawberi. Melalui kajian ini, kami mendapati bahawa perasa tertentu memerlukan lebih banyak kandungan gula berbanding yang lain. Penemuan ini memberikan maklumat tentang perlabelan keperluan kandungan gula yang lebih komprehensif dan bahan aktif dalam suplemen kesihatan.

 

Kata kunci:  suplemen kesihatan; gula; kanak-kanak, Malaysia, perisa

 

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