Coconut Sugar: Chemical Analysis and Nutritional Profile; Health Impacts; Safety and Quality Control; Food Industry Applications

Ariana Saraiva, Conrado Carrascosa (), Fernando Ramos, Dele Raheem, Maria Lopes and António Raposo ()
Additional contact information
Ariana Saraiva: Department of Animal Pathology and Production, Bromatology and Food Technology, Faculty of Veterinary, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Trasmontaña s/n, 35413 Arucas, Spain
Conrado Carrascosa: Department of Animal Pathology and Production, Bromatology and Food Technology, Faculty of Veterinary, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Trasmontaña s/n, 35413 Arucas, Spain
Fernando Ramos: Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal
Dele Raheem: Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law (NIEM), Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, 96101 Rovaniemi, Finland
Maria Lopes: Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal
António Raposo: CBIOS (Research Center for Biosciences and Health Technologies), Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-33

Abstract: Consumers often wish to substitute refined sugar with alternative sweeteners, such as coconut sugar, given growing interest in healthy eating and the public’s negative perception of excess sugar intake. Coconut sugar is a healthier, sweetener option than the majority of other sugars that are commercially available. Sap is collected from trees to be transported, stored, and evaporated during processing, which are labor- and resource-intensive operations. Consequently, the cost of production is higher than it is for cane sugar. Given its high nutritional value and low glycemic index, people are willing to pay higher prices for it. However, one barrier is ignorance of its health benefits. This review examines and deals in-depth with the most significant features of coconut sugar chemical analyses to focus on several analytical methodologies given the increasing demand for naturally derived sweeteners in the last 10 years. A deeper understanding of the quality control, safety, health effects, nutritional profile, and sustainability issues corresponding to coconut sugar is necessary to effectively implement them in the food industry.

Keywords: alternative sweeteners; coconut sugar; chemical analysis; health impacts; nutrition; food industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/3671/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/3671/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:3671-:d:1073310

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().