Beverage containing vaccinium uliginosum juice containing theanine

Abstract

A beverage containing vaccinium uliginosum juice comprising theanine is disclosed.

Description

[0001] CROSS - REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This patent application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2022 - 207482 (filing date: December 23, 2022), which is a prior application. All the disclosure content in the prior patent application is hereby incorporated by reference and considered as part of this specification. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present invention relates to a beverage containing bilberry juice and theanine. BACKGROUND ART

[0004] Fruit juice beverages have always been widely favored in terms of their fragrance, and further from the viewpoints of maintaining / improving health and contributing to beauty / skin care. In fact, in addition to containing various nutrients, fruit juice beverages also contain a large amount of health - functional ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber.

[0005] As such a fruit juice beverage, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a composition for improving skin whitening and skin conditions such as improving wrinkles by scavenging / inhibiting active oxygen species caused by ultraviolet rays, and the composition contains an extract of Vaccinium uliginosum as an active ingredient.

[0006] On the other hand, currently, due to the diversification of consumers' purposes and preferences, not only 100% fruit juice beverages are provided, but also beverages containing various fruits are provided, which are added with flavoring ingredients such as vitamins and extracts, nutritional ingredients, and flavor and fragrance substances.

[0007] As one of the ingredients that can be used in such food and beverages, for example, Patent Document 2 discloses a flavor - improving composition characterized by containing theanine. Theanine is a known ingredient effective for flavor improvement.

[0008] PRIOR ART DOCUMENTS

[0009] PATENT DOCUMENTS

[0010] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid - Open No. 2008 - 526956

[0011] Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid - Open No. 9 - 313129 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0012] The inventors of the present invention newly discovered a beverage containing bilberry juice and theanine. The present invention is made based on this finding.

[0013] Accordingly, the present invention provides a beverage containing bilberry juice and theanine.

[0014] According to the present invention, the following inventions are provided.

[0015] (1) A beverage containing bilberry juice and theanine.

[0016] (2) The beverage according to (1), wherein when the content of bilberry juice in the beverage is CA and the content of theanine in the beverage is CB, the ratio of CA / CB is 6 to 120.

[0017] (3) The beverage according to (1) or (2), wherein the content of bilberry juice in the beverage is 2% (w / w) or more when converted to straight juice.

[0018] (4) The beverage according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the content of theanine in the beverage is 0.05% (w / w) or more.

[0019] (5) A method for manufacturing a beverage containing bilberry juice, the manufacturing method including a step of containing theanine.

[0020] (6) A method for reducing the adhesion of a beverage containing bilberry juice to the throat, the method including a step of making the beverage containing bilberry juice contain theanine.

[0021] According to the present invention, there are provided: a beverage containing bilberry juice and theanine and a method for manufacturing the same. Further, according to the present invention, there is also provided a method for reducing the adhesion of a beverage containing bilberry juice to the throat, the method including a step of making the beverage containing bilberry juice contain theanine. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 A graph obtained by plotting the contents of bilberry and theanine in the beverage. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a beverage containing bilberry juice. The beverage containing bilberry juice contains theanine.

[0024] The "bilberry" of the present invention refers to "Vaccinium uliginosum" of a plant belonging to the genus Vaccinium of the Ericaceae family, and as a common name, it is sometimes also called bog bilberry or great bilberry, and in Japan, it is sometimes also called Azuma grapes or alpine grapes.

[0025] The Vaccinium uliginosum juice in the present invention can be produced, for example, by the methods commonly used for producing fruit juice as raw materials for fruit beverages: using an on-line juicer or the like to press the whole fruit (the entire fruit including the skin, etc.) to separate it into juice components and residues containing the peel, and then sterilizing and cooling the pressed juice; or separating the whole fruit into the peel part and the pulp part, or cutting it in half and only juicing, sterilizing, and cooling the pulp part, etc. The Vaccinium uliginosum juice in the present invention also includes concentrated juice obtained by concentrating the fruit juice and reconstituted juice obtained by diluting the concentrated juice. The fruit juice refers to jam or the like obtained by crushing the fruit, juicing it, or filtering it through a sieve, etc., after removing the skin, seeds, etc.

[0026] As methods for processing the Vaccinium uliginosum juice in the present invention, for example, an enzyme treatment method, a microfiltration method, an ultrafiltration method, etc. can be cited.

[0027] The Vaccinium uliginosum juice in the present invention can be a clarified and transparent juice or a suspension juice.

[0028] For the Vaccinium uliginosum that can be used in the preparation of the Vaccinium uliginosum juice in the present invention, there are no particular limitations on its variety, origin, ripeness, size, etc., and they can be appropriately set.

[0029] The Vaccinium uliginosum juice in the present invention is sometimes also denoted as Wild blueberry juice concentrate (Vaccinium uliginosum) in English, and sometimes also denoted as concentrated blueberry juice in Chinese.

[0030] When Vaccinium uliginosum juice is commercially available, it can also be used. For example, it can be the product of Shangzhi Lvye Berry Co., Ltd., Heilongjiang Province.

[0031] The content of Vaccinium uliginosum juice in the beverage of the present invention is preferably 2% (w / w) or more, more preferably 3 - 9% (w / w) when converted to non-concentrated reconstituted juice. It should be noted that converting to non-concentrated reconstituted juice means converting to the relative concentration when the non-concentrated reconstituted juice obtained by juicing the fruit is 100%, and the conversion is based on the refractive index reading of the sugar refractometer (Brix value) shown in the JAS standard (Japanese agricultural and forestry standard for fruit beverages), etc. For example, for Vaccinium uliginosum, the recommended reference Brix value by the manufacturer is 9. Therefore, when 1 mass% of concentrated juice with a Brix value of 45 is added to the beverage, it becomes a beverage containing 5% Vaccinium uliginosum juice.

[0032] The beverage of the present invention contains theanine. The theanine in the present invention is a derivative of glutamic acid contained in tea leaves and is known as the main component of the delicious taste of tea. Theanine is usually used as a food additive for flavoring purposes. The theanine in the present invention can be produced according to known methods. For example, it can be produced by the organic synthesis method (Chem. Pharm. Bull., 19(7) 1301-1307 (1971)), the fermentation method (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-68578, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-328986), the plant cell culture method (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-123166), etc. In addition, the theanine obtained by such methods can be used in the form of L-form, D-form, or DL-form. Among them, the L-form is derived from natural products, so the impurities contained can also be ingested as food without the need for high purification. Therefore, as the theanine of the present invention, the L-form is preferably used. When theanine is commercially available, it can also be used. For example, Sunphenon TH-20S manufactured by Sun Chemical Corporation can be used.

[0033] The content of theanine in the beverage of the present invention is preferably 0.05% (w / w) or more, and more preferably 0.1 - 0.5% (w / w). The content of theanine can be calculated as follows: After thoroughly drying the theanine contained in the beverage, the dry weight is measured, and thus the content can be calculated. For example, when 99 g of the beverage of the present invention contains 1 g of theanine with a dry weight, the content of theanine is 1% (w / w).

[0034] There is no particular limitation on the ratio of the content of Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice and theanine in the beverage of the present invention. When the content of Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice is set as CA and the content of theanine is set as CB, CA / CB is preferably 6 - 120, and more preferably 12 - 60. According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, CA / CB is 15 - 120, and more preferably 15 - 60.

[0035] The beverage of the present invention is not limited. For example, it can be made into a pharmaceutical, a cosmetic, or a food product, etc.

[0036] In the beverage of the present invention, other ingredients commonly used in ordinary beverages can be appropriately incorporated. Examples of such ingredients include saccharides (monosaccharides such as sucrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, etc., disaccharides, oligosaccharides), sugar alcohols (erythritol, maltitol, etc.), isomerized sugars (fructose glucose syrup, etc.), high-intensity sweeteners (stevia, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, etc.), acidulants (citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, lactic acid, gluconic acid, phosphoric acid, etc.), emulsifiers (sucrose fatty acid esters, lecithin, etc.), thickening and stabilizing agents (soybean polysaccharides, pectin, carrageenan, gellan gum, xanthan gum, guar gum, etc.), antioxidants (tocopherol (vitamin E), cysteine hydrochloride, etc.), pigments (carotenoid pigments, anthocyanin pigments, caramel pigments, various synthetic colorants, etc.), flavors, preservatives, antiseptics, mold inhibitors, vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin E, etc.), minerals (potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, etc.), dietary fiber, etc.

[0037] The beverage of the present invention may also contain solvents such as water. In addition, the form of the beverage of the present invention is not particularly limited, and it may also be a non-alcoholic beverage based on fruit juice, a carbonated beverage containing carbonic acid, an alcoholic beverage containing alcohol, a gel beverage containing a gelling agent, etc.

[0038] The beverage of the present invention can be produced according to a conventional method. For example, using concentrated fruit juice as a raw material, adding water and the like in an amount such that the content of Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice becomes an arbitrary amount, an arbitrary amount of theanine, and further adding other ingredients added as needed, the beverage of the present invention is prepared.

[0039] Therefore, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a beverage containing Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice. The method includes a step of containing theanine.

[0040] In the method for producing the beverage of the present invention, the mixing order, mixing method, etc. of Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice, theanine, and other ingredients added as needed are not particularly limited, and those skilled in the art can appropriately set them.

[0041] The beverage containing Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice produced by the method for producing the beverage of the present invention can be filled into a container to form a container-packed beverage, for example. The filling method into the container is also not particularly limited and can be carried out according to a conventional method, for example. The container can also be appropriately selected from known ones and used, and the raw material, shape, etc. are not particularly limited. Specific examples of the container include, for example, transparent or semi-transparent bottles, transparent or semi-transparent plastic containers such as PET bottles, metal cans such as stainless steel cans and aluminum cans.

[0042] When the beverage of the present invention is made into a container-packed beverage, sterilization treatment can be appropriately carried out before or after filling into the container as needed. The method of sterilization treatment is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include ordinary plate sterilization, tubular sterilization, steam sterilization, batch sterilization, autoclave sterilization, etc.

[0043] According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the attachment of the beverage containing Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice to the throat is reduced. The attachment to the throat in the present invention refers to the sense of abundance, the feeling of attachment, that is, the resistance to the throat, felt in the front part of the throat (near the soft palate, uvula, posterior part of the tongue, etc.) when swallowing nutrients.

[0044] Therefore, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for reducing the attachment of a beverage containing Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice to the throat. The method includes a step of making the beverage containing Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice contain L-theanine.

[0045] Examples

[0046] Based on the following examples, the present invention will be specifically described, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. The content is expressed in mass% unless otherwise specified.

[0047] Sensory Evaluation of Beverage Containing Vaccinium uliginosum Fruit Juice

[0048] First, for a beverage containing Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice without L-theanine, the attachment to the throat was evaluated. A beverage containing Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice was obtained by preparing a commercially available 6-fold concentrated Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice (manufactured by Shangzhi Lvye Berry Co., Ltd., Heilongjiang Province) in such a way that the content in terms of non-concentrate reconstituted juice was as shown in Table 1 below.

[0049] The sensory test of the obtained beverage was carried out as follows. That is, five trained panelists tasted the above beverage, and scored the attachment to the throat. The scoring was carried out as follows: when each panelist felt the attachment to the throat, it was judged as +, and when not felt, it was judged as -, and the number of + was calculated. When the number of + exceeded half, that is, 3 points or more, it was judged as a beverage that felt the attachment to the throat. The results are shown in Table 1.

[0050] [Table 1]

[0051] Table 1: Evaluation results of sensory test of beverage containing Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice

[0052] Test Example 1 Test Example 2 Test Example 3 Test Example 4 Vaccinium uliginosum Fruit Juice (w / w%) 0.75 1.5 3 6 Evaluation by Panelist 1 - + + + Evaluation by Panelist 2 - - + + Evaluation by Panelist 3 - - + + Evaluation by Panelist 4 - - + + Evaluation by Panelist 5 - + + + Adhesion to Throat 0 2 5 5

[0053] According to the results in Table 1, it was shown that when the content of Vaccinium uliginosum fruit juice was 3% or more in terms of non-concentrate reconstituted juice, it became a beverage that felt the attachment to the throat.

[0054] Sensory Evaluation of Beverage Containing Vaccinium uliginosum Fruit Juice and Theanine

[0055] Next, for the beverage of bilberry juice containing theanine, the adhesion to the throat, sourness, and ease of drinking were evaluated. A commercially available 6-fold concentrated bilberry juice (produced by Shangzhi Lvye Berry Co., Ltd., Heilongjiang Province) was prepared in such a way that the content was as recorded in Table 2 below in terms of non-concentrate reconstituted juice, and theanine was added in such a way that the content was as recorded in Table 2 below, obtaining a beverage of bilberry juice containing theanine.

[0056] The sensory test of the obtained beverage was conducted as follows. That is, five trained panelists tasted the above beverage of bilberry juice containing theanine, and scored the adhesion to the throat, sourness, and ease of drinking. The scoring was conducted as follows: Compared with the control beverage (a beverage of bilberry juice without theanine), for the adhesion to the throat, it was judged as -1 when it was felt that the adhesion to the throat was weak, 0 when it was felt to be of the same degree, and +1 when it was felt to be strong; for the sourness, it was judged as -1 when it was felt to be weak, 0 when it was felt to be of the same degree, and +1 when it was felt to be strong; for the ease of drinking, it was judged as -1 when it was felt to be difficult to drink, 0 when it was felt to be of the same degree, and +1 when it was felt to be easy to drink. After that, the judgment values of the adhesion to the throat, sourness, and ease of drinking were added together respectively. When the total score was +3 or more or -3 or less, it was judged that there was a difference compared with the control. The results are shown in Table 2.

[0057] [Table 2]

[0058] Table 2: Sensory test evaluation results of the beverage of bilberry juice containing theanine

[0059]

[0060] ※1 Respectively marked as different from the control: ○, no difference from the control: ×.

[0061] The results in Table 2 show that: by making the beverage contain a moderate amount of theanine, the taste (sourness) of the juice is basically not changed, and the adhesion to the throat can be inhibited. It is also shown that: such a beverage also has the ease of drinking.

[0062] Next, beverages with the content of bilberry juice changed were prepared, and the same evaluation as above was conducted. The results are shown in Table 3. It should be noted that, respectively, Control A was the control for Test Examples 9 and 10, and Control B was the control for Test Example 11.

[0063] [Table 3]

[0064] Table 3: Sensory test evaluation results of the bilberry juice beverage containing theanine

[0065]

[0066] ※1 Respectively marked as different from the control: ○, no difference from the control: ×.

[0067] According to the results in Table 3, it shows that even if the contents of bilberry juice and theanine are changed, the taste (sour taste) of the juice will basically not change, and the adhesion to the throat can be inhibited. In addition, it shows that such a beverage also has ease of drinking.

[0068] In addition, in the graph with the content of bilberry in the beverage (CA, w / w%) as the horizontal axis and the content of theanine (CB, w / w%) as the vertical axis, the bilberry content and theanine content of the prepared beverage were plotted. The results are shown in Figure 1 .

Claims

1. A beverage containing bilberry juice and theanine.

2. The beverage according to claim 1, wherein, When the content of bilberry juice in the beverage is set as CA and the content of theanine in the beverage is set as CB, the ratio of CA / CB is 6 to 120.

3. The beverage according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, When the content of bilberry juice in the beverage is converted to non - concentrated reconstituted juice, it is 2% (w / w) or more.

4. The beverage according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The content of theanine in the beverage is 0.05% (w / w) or more.

5. A method for manufacturing a beverage containing bilberry juice, the manufacturing method including a step of containing theanine.

6. A method for reducing the adhesion of a beverage containing bilberry juice to the throat, the method including a step of making the beverage containing bilberry juice contain theanine.

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