Rx 1000

To compare the relative sweetness values of synthetic and commercial maltitol, 1% (w/v) solutions of both maltitols were measured using a refractometer (RX-1000, Atago Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) and reported as °Brix values. Sucrose was used as the reference compound to plot the standard curve of the concentrations (%, w/v) versus the degrees Brix (°Bx) [30 (link)]. One degree Brix is defined as 1 g of sucrose in 100 mL solution.

An analysis of the total soluble solids of the developed functional beverage was performed using a refractometer (Atago RX-1000) in accordance with the AOAC (2005). Briefly, the sample (1 g) was macerated with distilled water (1 mL) and the resulting mixture was placed on the refractometer. The results were given in degrees Brix.

Moisture was determined by lyophilizing at Telstar, mod. LyoQuest. The total soluble solids were quantified with a digital refractometer (Atago RX-1000, Tokyo, Japan) at 20 °C. pH was determined with a pH-meter (Microph 2000, Crison, Barcelona, Spain) in the supernatants after centrifugation of the samples at 3024× g, 10 min. Acidity was analyzed by titration with NaOH 0.1 N. Formaldehyde was added to the resulting liquids from acidity determination and the formol index was measured by titration with NaOH 0.1 N. Ash content was determined by incineration in a muffle furnace (Milestone mod. MLS-1200 Pyro, Bangbi, Denmark) with the following conditions: 250 °C, 30 min; 500 °C, 15 min; 550 °C, 15 h. Macro- and microelements were measured in the resulting ashes with a PerkinElmer Analyst200 atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Waltham, MA, USA) according to the procedure reported by Mateos-Aparicio et al. [13 (link)].