## Measuring proportions of surface and entrained polyphenols in solid crystalline sugars of the invention 

The proportion of polyphenols on the surface of a solid crystalline sugar and the proportion of polyphenols entrained within the sugar crystal can be measured by washing the sugar with cold (refrigerated) water for 15 to 30 seconds. This time frame has shown to be sufficient to remove the surface polyphenols on sugars with no entrained polyphenols. However, the skilled person will be able to adjust the method for sugars with thick additive layers that need a longer wash to remove the surface polyphenols. The skilled person will also be able to determine when the wash needs to cease because a longer wash will result in dissolution of the sugar crystals into the water. After the wash, the wash water and sugar crystals are separated and the amounts of polyphenols in each quantified to determine the proportion of surface and entrained polyphenols. 

The Gl, sucrose, polyphenol, glucose, fructose and moisture content of a sugar prepared from a controlled wash of sugar cane massecuite can all be defined, as set out in the Examples. 

There is a “sweetspot”in the extent to which sugar is refined where Gl remains low. Too much washing removed the majority of polyphenol content and increased the Gl. Too little washing resulted in a higher reducing sugar content, which is thought to overpower the Gl lowering effect of the polyphenols and increase the Gl of the sugar. 

The low Gl sweet spot was demonstrated by graphing the results of the sugars in Table 3 below. This graph demonstrates that at least 22 mg CE polyphenols/1 00 g sucrose needs to be retained during sugar processing to produce a low Gl sugar. If additional polyphenols are present but reducing sugars are too high then Gl lowering effect is removed. Respraying molasses back onto refined white and less refined raw sugars to produce a brown sugar may therefore not be an effective strategy to reduce Gl. Table 1 provides data on several sugars prepared by a controlled wash of sugar cane massecuite. 

Table 1 - Example sugars 

