Cps. Castillo et al., THE STARCH AND TOTAL SUGAR CONTENT OF MEXICAN FRUIT AND VEGETABLES, Archivos latinoamericanos de nutricion, 47(2), 1997, pp. 168-172
The starch and total sugar contents of 20 types of fruit, 28 types of
vegetables and six different herbs, grown in Mexico, were analysed. Th
e selection was based on dietary surveys to identify those foods most
widely consumed. Starch was determined by an enzymatic method whilst t
otal sugar was determined gravimetrically. The foods were grouped acco
rding to the Southgate classification. Fruits contained little starch
(range 0-4 g/100 g fresh weight (FW) except in the case of the plantai
n (31 g/100 g FW starch), ,whereas vegetables showed a higher concentr
ation with tubers in the range 10-20 g/100 g FW starch. Legumes contai
ned 0-5 g/100 g FW; amongst the capsicum group the chilli poblano had
the highest concentration at 1.3 g/100 g FW starch. The concentration
of sugars in fruits ranged from 0.6 g/100 g FW to 21.1 g/100 g FW.