Determination of hydroxymetylfurfural (HMF)content in granola bars made with molasses andhoney

With the increase in obesity-related health problems, the interest of society and health professionals in healthy nutrition is increasing. One of the issues that both consumers and the food industry are focusing on is reducing the use of refined sugar. Excessive consumption of sugar and sugary foods can lead to excessive energy intake and decreased consumption of foods with high nutritional value. For this reason, experts recommend honey and molasses, which have high nutritional value, instead of refined sugar in some bakery products. Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a chemical substance that can be formed as a result of storing sugary foods at inappropriate temperatures and subjecting them to heat treatment, and taking them in high concentrations can lead to toxic effects. The high reducing sugar content and thermal processing of honey and molasses may increase the risk of HMF formation. In this study, HMF content was determined in granola bars using refined sugar substitutes such as pine honey, flower honey, carob molasses, mulberry molasses and grape molasses. The averages for all chemical and physical analyzes were evaluated with the 'One Way ANOVA' test; Duncan multiple comparison tests were applied. When the HMF amounts of granola bars were examined, it was found that the highest value belonged to the granola bar sample sweetened with flower honey with 38.3885 mg/ kg and the lowest value belonged to the granola bar sample sweetened with pine honey with 15.2467 mg/ kg. This difference is statistically significant (p<0.05). HMF values of granola bars sweetened with sugar and sugar substitutes were 30.76 mg/ kg for granola bar sweetened with sucrose (brown sugar), 31.02 mg/ kg for granola bar sweetened with mulberry molasses, 33.00 mg/ kg for granola bar sweetened with carob molasses, and 24.01 mg/kg for granola bar sweetened with grape molasses.