Hydroxyflavanones Mask Bitter Taste Without Sweet Suppression
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for reducing bitter taste in foods and pharmaceuticals often involve stressful treatments that produce waste and residues, and existing bitter-masking substances either suppress sweet taste, have inherent tastes, or require high concentrations, making them undesirable for widespread use.
Innovation Solution
The use of hydroxyl-substituted 2-phenylchroman-4-ones, such as (2S)-homoeriodictyol disodium salt, in nutritional and pharmaceutical preparations to effectively mask or reduce bitter taste impressions at low concentrations without affecting sweet taste, utilizing their ability to suppress a variety of bitter substances.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If extraction or enzymatic treatment is used to lower bitter substance content, then bitter taste is reduced, but treatment stress, waste production, and residue formation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts only the essential functional property (bitter taste suppression) from complex treatment processes, using simple hydroxyflavanone compounds that can be added directly without extraction, purification, or enzymatic treatment steps
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses simple, inexpensive hydroxyflavanone compounds that can be easily added and discarded without requiring complex recovery or purification processes, contrasting with expensive and complex extraction/enzymatic treatments
2Object-affected harmful factors
If existing bitter-masking substances are used, then bitter taste is suppressed, but sweet taste is also suppressed or inherent tastes are imparted
Solution Approach 1:
The hydroxyflavanone compounds exhibit selective action - they suppress bitter taste specifically while leaving sweet, sour, salty, and umami tastes unaffected, providing localized taste modification without global taste suppression
Solution Approach 2:
The patent demonstrates that hydroxyflavanones can be universally applied across different food and pharmaceutical applications without imparting their own taste or interfering with other taste modalities, making them versatile for various uses
3Object-affected harmful factors
If high concentrations of bitter-masking substances are used, then bitter taste suppression is achieved, but the substance requires high dosage which may be undesirable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the concentration parameter dramatically - hydroxyflavanones achieve bitter taste suppression at very low concentrations (0.01-10 ppm) compared to conventional substances that require much higher dosages, representing a thousand-fold or greater reduction in required quantity
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to hydroxyflavanones, their salts and stereoisomers and their mixtures for suppressing or reducing the bitter and/or metallic taste impression. In addition, the invention relates to nutritional, nutritive or consumable preparations or oral pharmaceutical compositions, characterized in that these have an active content of hydroxyflavanones, their salts and stereoisomers or their mixtures.