Method for mitigating bitterness caused by bitter substance

Abstract

To provide a method for easily mitigating bitterness caused by bitter substances.SOLUTION: A bitter substance is granulated using hydrogenated sugar as an excipient, and using reduced starch hydrolysate, which is a hydrogenated starch decomposition product with a DE value of 41 or less, as a binder.SELECTED DRAWING: None

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for reducing the bitterness of a substance that exhibits a bitter taste. [Background technology]

[0002] When a bitter substance is used as an ingredient of a food or medicine, it is sometimes desirable to reduce the bitterness felt upon ingestion. Patent Document 1 describes a method of reducing the bitterness of an amino acid by forming a composition of a different type of amino acid, a sweetener, and a flavor from an amino acid that exhibits bitterness. Patent Document 2 describes a method of suppressing the bitterness of a bitter substance ingested at the same time by using mannitol powder with a specific specific surface area and particle size. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2003-235512 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2017-125001 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] An object of the present invention is to provide a method for reducing the bitterness of a substance that exhibits a bitter taste more simply than conventional methods. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The inventors discovered that when a substance that exhibits a bitter taste was granulated using a hydrogenated sugar as an excipient and reduced starch saccharification as a binder, the bitter taste of the substance was reduced, and thus completed the present invention.

[0006] That is, firstly, the present invention provides a method for reducing the bitterness of a bitter substance by granulating the bitter substance using a hydrogenated sugar as an excipient and a reduced starch saccharification product as a binder. Second, in the method according to the first aspect, the reduced starch saccharification product is a hydrogenated starch hydrolysate having a DE of 41 or less. Third, the method according to the first aspect, wherein the reduced starch hydrolyzate has a monosaccharide, disaccharide and trisaccharide content of 50 mass% or less. Fourth, the method according to any one of first to third, wherein the hydrogenated sugar is a monosaccharide or a disaccharide. Fifth, the method according to any one of first to third, wherein the substance that exhibits a bitter taste is a branched-chain amino acid. Effect of the Invention

[0007] By using the present invention, it is possible to obtain a granulated product with reduced bitterness. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] In the present invention, the substance that exhibits a bitter taste can be used without any particular limitation as long as it can be used as a food or medicine, and examples thereof include caffeine, theobromine, nicotine, catechin, humulone, limonin, cucurbitacin, naringin, cholic acid, bitter amino acids such as branched chain amino acids, bitter peptides, calcium salts, magnesium salts of inorganic substances, etc. Also, in the present invention, a composition containing a substance that exhibits a bitter taste can be used.

[0009] In the present invention, the hydrogenated sugar is used as an excipient, and the type of compound can be used without any particular limitation. The hydrogenated sugar has a structure in which the formyl group or carbonyl group of the sugar is hydrogenated, and such substances are called sugar alcohols, polyols, etc. Examples of hydrogenated sugar include erythritol, xylitol, mannitol, sorbitol, maltitol, reduced isomaltulose, maltotriitol, reduced starch syrup, etc., and preferred examples include hydrogenated monosaccharides or disaccharides such as erythritol, xylitol, mannitol, sorbitol, maltitol, etc., or reduced starch syrup containing hydrogenated monosaccharides or disaccharides as the main component.

[0010] In the present invention, when the bitter substance is granulated or after granulation, ingredients such as flavorings and sweeteners other than those listed above can be added as long as they do not inhibit the effects of the present invention. In the present invention, the flavorings are preferably citrus fruits, and more preferably orange flavorings, and the sweeteners are preferably high-intensity sweeteners, and more preferably acesulfame K and sucralose.

[0011] The binder used in the present invention includes reduced starch saccharification products, which are hydrogenated water-soluble starch hydrolysates having a specific component composition. Starch hydrolysates are substances obtained by partially hydrolyzing starch chemically or enzymatically to reduce the molecular weight, and contain substances having various degrees of polymerization as components. Substances having a structure in which the formyl groups of this starch hydrolysate are hydrogenated are called reduced starch syrup, reduced starch syrup, etc. In the present invention, the reduced starch saccharification products may be commercially available products, or may be produced from starch hydrolysates by known methods. Reduced starch saccharification products having different sugar compositions may be mixed to form a composition having any sugar composition.

[0012] Here, the sugar composition refers to the ratio of the mass of each sugar to the total mass of sugars, expressed as a percentage. The sugar composition can be confirmed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). HPLC is performed using an aqueous solution of sugars as a sample to obtain a chromatogram. The total sum of the peak areas of the obtained chromatogram corresponds to the total mass of sugars, and each peak area corresponds to the mass of each sugar, and the mass ratio of each sugar can be calculated. The HPLC conditions can be set appropriately.

[0013] In the present invention, the content of monosaccharides, disaccharides and trisaccharides as components of reduced starch saccharification product is 50 parts by mass or less, preferably 45 parts by mass or less, more preferably 40 parts by mass or less, per 100 parts by mass of reduced starch saccharification product, and even more preferably, reduced starch saccharification product having the above composition and the total content of monosaccharides, disaccharides, trisaccharides and tetrasaccharides of 50 parts by mass or less can be used as a binder. Note that monosaccharides, disaccharides, trisaccharides and the like as components of reduced starch saccharification product refer to hydrogenated monosaccharides, disaccharides, trisaccharides and the like, respectively.

[0014] Dextrose equivalent (DE) is an index of the average molecular weight of starch hydrolysates, that is, an index of the degree of hydrolysis in starch hydrolysates, and is a relative scale when the reducing power of D-glucose is set to 100. The closer the value is to 0, the lower the degree of hydrolysis and the larger the average molecular weight, and the closer the value is to 100, the higher the degree of hydrolysis and the smaller the average molecular weight. In the present invention, reduced starch saccharification products, which are hydrogenated starch hydrolysates with DE of 41 or less, preferably DE of 39 or less, can be used as binders. From the viewpoint of ease of handling during granulation, the DE of the starch hydrolysates, which are the raw materials for reduced starch saccharification products, is preferably 5 or more, more preferably 10 or more. Granulation is performed using 1 to 10 parts by mass, preferably 1 to 5 parts by mass, more preferably 2 to 4 parts by mass of the binder, relative to 100 parts by mass of the total of the bitter substance and the hydrogenated sugar as an excipient.

[0015] In the present invention, granulation is an operation of processing particles of a single or multi-component excipient, etc., into larger granules using a binder or the like. The present invention can be used regardless of the granulation method, but is preferably used in wet granulation, in which water or a binder solution is dripped or sprayed onto an excipient powder during granulation to wet the powder, and the moisture is then dried to granulate. There is no particular restriction on the method of adding water or a binder solution in wet granulation. For example, agitation granulation, in which a powder of a bitter substance and a powder of a hydrogenated sugar are agitated while a solution is dripped onto the powder to granulate, and fluidized bed granulation, in which a powder of a bitter substance and a powder of a hydrogenated sugar are fluidized in a fluidized bed while a solution is sprayed onto the powder to granulate, are preferably used in the present invention from the viewpoint of operability.

[0016] The degree of reduction in the bitterness of a substance exhibiting a bitter taste in the present invention is evaluated by a sensory test in comparison with the substance exhibiting the bitter taste to which the present invention is not applied.

[0017] Examples of the present invention will be described below, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. EXAMPLES

[0018] (Binding Agent) The binder used was reduced starch saccharification product (PO-10, manufactured by Mitsubishi Corporation Life Sciences Co., Ltd.) containing 1.3 parts by mass of monosaccharides, 2.9 parts by mass of disaccharides, 2.6 parts by mass of trisaccharides, 1.7 parts by mass of tetrasaccharides, and 91.5 parts by mass of carbohydrates having a degree of polymerization of pentasaccharides or more, and having a raw material DE of 12.6. Hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC-SSL, manufactured by Nippon Soda Co., Ltd.) was used as a comparative binder.

[0019] (Excipient powder) The hydrogenated sugar powder used as the excipient was as follows: Crystalline maltitol (Resis fine powder, manufactured by Mitsubishi Corporation Life Sciences) Powdered maltitol (Amalty MR-100, manufactured by Mitsubishi Corporation Life Sciences) Dextrin (Sandec #100, Sanwa Starch Industries Co., Ltd.) was used as a filler for the comparative product.

[0020] (bitter substance) The bitter substance used was a mixture of branched chain amino acids L-valine:L-leucine:L-isoleucine in a ratio of 1:2:1.

[0021] (High-intensity sweetener) After granulation, the following high-intensity sweeteners were used in combination by powder mixing. Acesulfame K (Sunet, manufactured by Mitsubishi Corporation Life Sciences) Sucralose (Sucralose, manufactured by San-Ei Gen F.F.I. Co., Ltd.)

[0022] (granulation) 100 g of excipient powder and 400 g of bitter component were charged into a granulator (FLO-1: manufactured by Freund Corporation), and 150 g of a 10% aqueous solution of binder or water was sprayed and granulated. Granulation was performed at a product temperature of 40°C, dried at a product temperature of 60°C for 10 minutes, left at room temperature overnight, and then sieved through a sieve with 850 μm openings to obtain granules.

[0023] (Evaluation of Bitterness Reduction) A panel of 12 people evaluated the bitterness of the compositions prepared by adding high-intensity sweeteners to the produced granules in the ratios shown in Table 1. The compositions evaluated had a sweetness equivalent to 140 g of sugar per 100 g of the composition. The bitterness was evaluated using 0.5 g of the composition using a 7-point rating system based on the bitterness of the comparison product (-3: very strong bitterness, -2: fairly strong bitterness, -1: strong bitterness, 0: same bitterness as the standard, 1: weak bitterness, 2: fairly weak bitterness, 3: very weak bitterness). The results are shown in Tables 2 and 3.

[0024] [Table 1]

[0025] [Table 2]

[0026] [Table 3]

[0027] It was confirmed that the products containing the bitter component (branched-chain amino acid mixture) granulated using the reduced starch saccharification product of the present invention as a binder and maltitol as an excipient all had a weaker bitterness than the comparative products.

Claims

1. A method for reducing the bitterness of a bitter substance by granulating the bitter substance using hydrogenated sugar as an excipient and reduced starch saccharification as a binder.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reduced starch saccharification product is a hydrogenated starch hydrolysate having a DE of 41 or less.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reduced starch hydrolyzate has a monosaccharide, disaccharide and trisaccharide content of 50% by mass or less.

4. The method according to claims 1 to 3, wherein the hydrogenated sugar is a hydrogenated monosaccharide or disaccharide.

5. The method according to claims 1 to 3, wherein the bitter tasting substance is a branched chain amino acid.

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