ABSTRACT The study evaluated the chemical qualities of bread sweetened with date syrup and compared with that of granulated sugar with a view to better revealing the potential of date syrup as an ingredient in baking and confection industries. Date syrup was extracted from date palm fruit and used as sweetener in bread at 10%, 15% and 20% concentration, so also granulated sugar. Bread samples obtained were characterised for phenolic composition, antioxidant properties and inhibition of carbohydrate hydrolysing enzymes as well as predicted glycaemic index. The results showed that Benzaldehyde, 4‐hydroxy‐ was the major phenolic compounds with range of 14.02%–15.62% across the samples. Bread samples sweetened with date syrup at 20% demonstrated better radical scavenging and metal chelating activities. The predicted glycaemic index varied between 42.90% and 76.30%, with bread samples sweetened with granulated sugar having the higher indices. Also, bread samples that contained date syrup and most especially, at higher concentration of the syrup inhibited alpha amylase and glucosidase enzymes at higher rates. The study concluded that date syrup could be considered as ingredient in baking industry to improve the nutritional qualities of bread as well as a potential replacement for granulated sugar.
Famuwagun et al. (Mon,) studied this question.