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Total Carbohydrate by Phenol-Sulfuric Acid Method

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Food Analysis Laboratory Manual

Part of the book series: Food Science Text Series ((FSTS))

Abstract

The phenol-sulfuric acid method is a simple and rapid colorimetric method to determine total carbohydrates in a sample. While the method detects virtually all classes of carbohydrates (mono-, di-, oligo-, and polysaccharides), the absorptivity of the different carbohydrates varies. Thus, unless a sample is known to contain only one carbohydrate, the results must be expressed arbitrarily in terms of one carbohydrate. In this laboratory exercise, the total carbohydrate content of soft drinks and beers is determined with the phenol-sulfuric acid method, using a glucose standard curve. Data generated are used to calculate the caloric content of those beverages.

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Change history

  • 24 July 2019

    An error in the production process unfortunately led to publication of the book before incorporating the below corrections. This has now been corrected and approved by the Editor.

Resource Materials

  • BeMiller JN (2017) Carbohydrate analysis, Ch. 19. In: Nielsen SS (ed) Food analysis, 5th edn. Springer, New York

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  • Metzger LE, Nielsen SS (2017) Nutrition labeling. Ch. 3. In: Nielsen SS edn. Food analysis, 5th edn. Springer, New York

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Acknowledgment

This laboratory was developed with input from Dr Joseph Montecalvo, Jr., Department of Food Science & Nutrition, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    S. Suzanne Nielsen

Authors
  1. S. Suzanne Nielsen
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Correspondence to S. Suzanne Nielsen .

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing

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Nielsen, S.S. (2017). Total Carbohydrate by Phenol-Sulfuric Acid Method. In: Food Analysis Laboratory Manual. Food Science Text Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44127-6_14

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