# Non-Centrifugal Sugar (NCS) and Health: A Review on Functional Components and Health Benefits
## 4 Phytochemicals Compounds  
The lack of molasses removal during brown sugar production causes the end products to contain various bioactive compounds that possess biological functions [8]. Polypphenols represent the major bioactive molecules present in NCS. Polyphenolic compounds can be categorized into flavonoids (flavones, flavanols, flavanones, anthocyanin, chalones and isoflav) and non-flavonoids (phenolic acids) [30]. The profile of polyphenols in NCS has been largely investigated. Some phenolic acids found in NCS include \(p\)-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid, \(p\)-cumaric acid, ferulic acid and rosmarinic acid. Flavononoids are mainly luteolin, kaempfered, naringenin, apigenin and anthocyanins (3-rutinoside cyanidin, cyanidin and pelargonidin), as shown in Table 4[18; 23; 31]. Heat-induced phenolics were also reported in sugarcane products. Heat-induced phenolics can be generated by splitting high molecular weight into smaller molecular weight monomeric phenols [32]. [PERSON] et al. [8] reported total phenolic content (TPC) in the range of 176.97- 294.40 mg GAE/100 g between different eight brown sugar samples. The amount and type of the polyphenols are influenced mainly by the agronomic factors (genotypes of cane, soil types, fertilization and harvest, among others), parameters of NCS production (thermal treatments) and production process (industrial process or traditional process by the farmer) [21; 33]. [PERSON] et al. [23] reported a higher content of TPC in minimally refined brown sugar (MRBS) (2.67 mg GAE/100 g sample) compared to brown sugar (BS) (1.73 mg GAE/100 g sample) as MRBS undergoes fewer refining processes than brown sugar. Additionally, industrial cane sugar from Japan showed significantly higher TPC (1745.6-1911.4 GAE/100 g) than cane sugar from Thailand (1108.5-1550.5 mg GAE/100 g). Industrial brown sugar from Thailand is manufactured by a partial centrifugal technique involving partial molasses removal, while Japanese brown sugar is processed without molasses removal [1]. Light, dark and raw BS contains a TPC of 0.004, 0.38, 0.42, and  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Minerals** & **Unit** & **Quantity** \\ \hline Calcium & mg & 13.70–240.00 \\ Chloride & mg & 5.30–250.00 \\ Cobalt & \(\upmu\)g & 9.90 \\ Copper & mg & 0.17–8.50 \\ Chromium & \(\upmu\)g & 11.90–16.00 \\ Iodine & \(\upmu\)g & 0.01 \\ Iron & mg & 1.60–12.50 \\ Magnesium & mg & 31.00–120.00 \\ Manganese & mg & 0.35–1.66 \\ Phosphorus & mg & 2.00–125.00 \\ Potassium & mg & 14.05–1100.00 \\ Selenium & \(\upmu\)g & 0.02 \\ Sodium & mg & 15.50–79.00 \\ Zinc & mg & 0.10–1.76 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: Minerals in NCS [19; 23].  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Vitamins** & **Unit** & **Quantity** \\ \hline Vitamin A & mg & 1.90 \\ B1 (Thiamin) & mg & 0.03 \\ B2 (Riboflavin) & mg & 0.07 \\ B3 (Niacin) & mg & 2.14 \\ B5 (Pantothenic acid) & mg & 0.70 \\ B6 (Pyridoxine) & mg & 0.21 \\ B9 (Folic acid) & \(\upmu\)g & 3.33 \\ Vitamin C & mg & 4.23 \\ Vitamin E & mg & 55.0 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 3: Vitamins in NCS [19].  
0.58 mg GAE/g, respectively [17]. [PERSON] et al. [1] reported moderate correlations between TPC and total flavonoid content (TFC) levels with the International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis (ICUMSA) color value of the unrefined sugar (R2 = 0.6504 and 0.7797, respectively). The data suggests that a darker coloration could be a potential and straightforward indicator in obtaining BS with superior bioactive compounds. Cane sugar showed superior TPC, TFC and antioxidant activities compared to unrefined sugar from palm and coconut, particularly in Thai and Japanese products [1].