Production, purification and Health Benefits of Sago Sugar

Previous works on the conversion of sago starch and sago hampas into sago sugar, production of cellobiose from sago fronds, and the current studies on the health benefits from consumption of brown sago sugar are presented in this paper. Hydrolysis of sago starch into sugar generates total (100%) recovery, containing glucose (94%), maltose, and other impurities at 3% each. Purification of the brown sago sugar is achieved using powdered activated charcoal to remove all impurities and color. Drying of the purified and concentrated white sago sugar is best performed in an oven (minimum 60 °C), producing high (100%) yield of sugar crystals after several days. Analysis of sweetness revealed that the sago sugar is as sweet as 50% glucose. Brown sago sugar is preferable to white sago sugar due to the presence of antioxidant, analyzed based on total phenolic content (TPC) at 300 mg/kg sugar. Some residual of the TPC can be detected even after purification of the brown sugar. Sago sugar is also obtainable through enzymatic hydrolysis of physically treated sago hampas, generating substantial amount of sugars (70% w/w). Current research also reveals the feasibility of producing cellobiose (approx. 12% w/w) from fresh sago frond, a type of pharmaceutical sugar which commands a higher price than glucose. It is obvious that sago palm has tremendous potential to be adopted as the new source of sugars to replace cane sugar.