A Modified Anthrone Colorimetric Technique for Use in Investigations Related to the Cariogenicity of Foodstuffs

¹ Eastman Dental Dispensary, Rochester, New York

The Loewus method of carbohydrate analysis employing anthrone dissolved in ethyl acetate as the reagent was adapted for making carbohydrate determinations upon foodstuffs and food/saliva mixtures. The modified procedure was found to be satisfactory for the purpose and considerably simpler than other techniques, in that it made daily preparation and standardization of reagent unnecessary. The modification of controlled heating and cooling of the samples improved accuracy considerably. Only negligible errors were introduced by the aging of the reagent over a 90-day period. A Ringbom plot served to establish the range of maximum accuracy of the anthrone technique at 20-60 µg/ml. Methods of obtaining representative aliquots of foodstuff suspensions and of determining percentage carbohydrate values for foodstuffs were outlined.