Dicarbonyl compounds and sugar contents of Thai commercial beverages

Glyoxal (GO) and methylglyoxal (MGO), two -dicarbonyl compounds (RCS) found in humans, cause carbonyl stress following the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Both are linked to many chronic diseases. Foods, the extrinsic source, could cause the increase of RCS levels in physiological conditions. Previous data showed that high fructose corn syrup is the major source of RCS in beverages. Because of increasing consumption of syrup-sweetened beverages in Thailand, we aimed to find the GO, MGO, sugar contents, and their quantity relationship. We discovered that 70 different types of beverages contained extremely high levels of GO and MGO at maximum level of 333 and 1,208 µg/ml, respectively. All commercial syrup tested contained dicarbonyl contents, and statistics tests showed strong significant correlation between monosaccharide sugar and RCS. The total sugar contents of more than 20 tested was higher than the current daily recommendation for sugar intake to maintain health.