Sugar profiles and recommended portion sizes of geographical indication fruits in Southern Thailand

Fruits are well-known sources of vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals which is associated with a wide range of potential health impacts. However, the high natural sugar contents of fruits indicate an association between fruit consumption and obesity. This study sought to determine the sugar profiles of well-known geographical indication fruits from Southern Thailand and provide recommended portion sizes for those fruits. The soluble sugar contents of mangosteen, rambutan, longkong, pomelo, and jackfruit collected from geographical indication areas were determined using Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Fructose was found to have the highest sugar content of all the fruit samples, ranging from 0.8-30.6 g/100 g fresh weight (FW) (7.3-88.4% dried weight (DW)), followed by glucose (ranging from 2.2-23.9 g/100 g FW or 11.2-67.5% DW) and sucrose (ranging from 0.5-10.4 g/100 g FW or 2.6-58.2% DW). According to the Online Thai Food Composition Database and food exchange data, one serving or one edible portion of each fruit contains 15 g of carbohydrate. The recommended size for an edible portion is 3-4 pieces or 85 g of mangosteen, 5-7 pieces or 90 g of rambutan, 2-4 pieces or 177 g of pomelo, 6-9 pieces or 109 g of longkong, and 3-5 pieces or 58 g of jackfruit. These data should prove helpful in a health promotion campaign aimed at encouraging healthy people to limit their intake of fresh fruit in order to prevent obesity and promoting glycemic control among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus.