Dark brown sugar (DBS) has been widely used as flavoring agent in Taiwan. Recently, some studies suggest that Maillard reaction products (MRPs), such as acrylamide that has great potential to damage health, are found in large amount in DBS. Therefore, it is interesting to clarify the amount of MRPs that are harmful to health in DBS. Fluorescent advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have been identified as the representatives of harmful MRPs in food and biological system. In the present study, fluorescence spectroscopy was employed to estimate the levels of fluorescent AGEs in commercial DBS products, including the molasses-made (group A, n = 8), the handmade by charcoal heating (group B, n = 8), the handmade by vacuum heating (group C, n = 3), the additives-added (group D, n = 3), and the undefined (group E, n = 8), as well as to characterize the health risk of these products. The results showed that the intensity of AGE-specific fluorescences (Ex. 366 nm/Em. 442 nm for vesperlysine A and B; Ex. 345 nm/Em. 405 nm for vesperlysine C; Ex. 335 nm/Em. 385 nm for pentosidine; Ex. 370 nm/Em. 448 nm for lysyl-pyrropyridine; Ex. 335 nm/Em. 400 nm for argpyrimidine) of group B were significantly lower than that of groups A and C (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05). This suggested that the time-temperature integration in the course of DBS production may be a critical factor for determination of fluorescence AGE content in DBS. Notably, discriminant analysis indicated that DBS products of groups A to E can be correctly categorized using excitation−emission matrix (EEM) from 3D fluorescence scanning. In conclusion, fluorescence spectroscopy can be used to estimate AGE content of DBS and to discriminate DBS products of different processing, which would be utilized for hazard characterization and authentication of DBS products.

Hazard characterization of commercial products of dark brown sugar in Taiwan using fluorescence spectroscopy

2019 Fall National Meeting

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