Brix level on dragon fruit and moringa oleifera soft candy to prevent children dental caries

Abstract

Candy is more commonly referred to as “fun food,” in addition to known as confectionary food. Excessive consumption of candy has a negative impact, in which it can causes obesity and dental caries. This study aimed to identify the brix levels in soft candies made from dragon fruit and moringa oleifera using different sugars. In this case, a complete randomized design was applied into 3 treatments; T (cane sugar candy), Tl (cassava sugar candy), and E (erythritol sugar candy). Each treatment consisted of 3 levels of Brix (P1: 5, P2: 10, P3: 20 grams), mixed with 100 ml of aquades. Brix levels were further analyzed using a refractometer, and further using one-way ANOVA. The results obtained showed that the smallest brix of the first, second, and third levels were; T of 3 brix + 0.00 SD, Tl of 5.05 brix + 0.07 SD, and Tl of 10.3 brix + 0.28 SD. Furthermore, the one-way ANOVA test showed there were differences in the brix levels of cane, cassava, and erythritol sugar candy (p: 0.000). Hence, it is concluded that cassava sugar can be a choice of the basic ingredients for making low-sugar candy, but erythritol sugar is more recommended as a basic ingredient to prevent dental caries.