Dangerously Sodium Overload or Mere Over-Claiming Health Issue? A Case of Malaysia’s Tasty Snack Papadum

Abstract

Papadum is one of the delicious and favourite snacks in Malaysia. In 2018, The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) claim that it has high sodium content. Therefore, this research was performed to verify the claim. A total of six different papadum brands were fried and analyse for sodium concentration and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) value. Based on the results, The TDS also showed insignificant difference (p > 0.05) at both 0.02 g/mL and 0.01 g/mL for all brands with the range value of 1785.33 ± 15.20 to 1315.33 ± 15.60 ppm and 1232.33 ± 0.00 to 873.67 ± 0.00 ppm, respectively. The 0.1 g/mL papadum solution was considered undetectable due to analyser sensitivity limitation. Next, the sodium concentration for all brand ranged from 1120.83 - 1874.18 mg/100 g (4 samples) which was within the daily intake limit of sodium at not more than 2,000 mg per day, as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). However, its sodium content is considered quite high as most consumer might consume other type of food. Papadum 1 and papadum 3 were significantly difference (p < 0.05) with other types of papadum. Based on the Pearson correlation test, different papadum brands exhibited irrelevant correlation (r = 0.033) with sodium concentration and TDS. In contrast, there was a strong inverse correlation (r = -0.926) between sodium concentration with TDS as the concentration of the papadum solution increased. In conclusion, this study agreed that papadum contains a significant amount of sodium that could affect human health when taken in a large amount daily.