Nutritive value of traditional sweets consumed in the Arab Gulf countries

Proximate, mineral, fatty acid and cholesterol composition of eight traditi onal sweets commonly consumed in the Arab Gulf countries were determined. F our sweets were obtained from Bahrain, whereas the other sweets were obtain ed from Oman. Protein level ranged from 0.2 to 9.0%, while the fat content ranged from 7.9 to 18.0%. In general, the sweets were found to be high in e nergy content but poor in most minerals. Iron and zinc contents were low (l ess than 2 and less than 1 mg/ 100 g for iron and zinc, respectively). Chol esterol was high in four sweets (range from 10.6 to 20.4 mg/100 g), mainly because of the use of animal fat in preparation of these sweets. The fatty acids profiles showed that palmitic and oleic acids were predominant. One s weet (eggbaith) was found to be very high in linoleic (42%) and low in palm itic (9.6%) acids. The study showed that some traditional sweets are nutrit ious, while others should be consumed with moderation.