Measurement of Available Carbohydrates in Cereal and Cereal Products, Dairy Products, Vegetables, Fruit, and Related Food Products and Animal Feeds: First Action 2020.07

BACKGROUND: The level of available carbohydrates in our diet is directly linked to two major diseases: obesity and Type II diabetes. Despite this, to date there is no method available to allow direct and accurate measurement of available carbohydrates in human and animal foods. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this research was to develop a method that would allow simple and accurate measurement of available carbohydrates, defined as non-resistant starch, maltodextrins, maltose, isomaltose, sucrose, lactose, glucose, fructose, and galactose. METHOD: Non-resistant (digestible) starch is hydrolyzed to glucose and maltose by pancreatic α-amylase (PAA) and amyloglucosidase at pH 6.0 with shaking or stirring at 37°C for 4 h. Sucrose, lactose, maltose, and isomaltose are completely hydrolyzed by specific enzymes to their constituent monosaccharides, which are then measured using pure enzymes in a single reaction cuvette. RESULTS: A method has been developed that allows the accurate measurement of available carbohydrates in all cereal, vegetable, fruit, food, and feed products, including dairy products. CONCLUSIONS: A single-laboratory validation was performed on a wide range of food and feed products. The inter-day repeatability (RSD(r), %) was <3.58% (w/w) across a range of samples containing 44.1–88.9% available carbohydrates. The LOD and LOQ obtained were 0.054% (w/w) and 0.179% (w/w), respectively. The method is all inclusive, specific, robust, and simple to use. HIGHLIGHTS: A unique method has been developed for the direct measurement of available carbohydrates, entailing separate measurement of glucose, fructose, and galactose, information of value in determining the glycemic index of foods.