Nutritional Value of Traditional Syrian Sweets and their Calorie Density

Abstract

Information on food composition is of great importance for scientists and professionals working in the fields of nutrition and public health. The most apparent role of food composition is to provide the basis for dietary assessment and the formulation of healthier diets. Ready meals and food served in canteens are increasingly included in this approachconsidering their contribution to daily nutrition. There have been no studies that presented the nutritional values of some traditional Syrian sweets. This study was the first study to shed some lights about the nutritional facts of the traditional Syrian sweets. Seventeen differenttraditional Syrian sweets both regular calorie content (regular where sucrose was used as sweetener) and reduced calorie content (diet as Aspartame sweetener was used) were analyzed for moisture, ash, carbohydrates, protein and fat content and finally calorie density per 100 g was calculated. The study also measured the calorie content of few sweets which we did not find diet ones similar to them.The results have shown that Syrian sweets in general are very calorie dense foods due to their high content of sugar, fat and other sweeteners such as honey and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). The calorie density ranges from 347.5 Kcal to 516.2 Kcal/ 100 g serving for diet sweets and 372.8 Kcal to 532.2 Kcal/100 g serving for regular sweets. Protein ranged from 5.6 g to 18.4 g and fat from 5.5 to 29.8 g/100g serving. How to cite this article: Labban L, Thallaj N, Masri MA. Nutritional Value of Traditional Syrian Sweets and their Calorie Density. J Adv Res Food Sci Nutr 2020; 3(1): 34-41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2582.3892.202005