GB2166637A - Drink concentrate - Google Patents

Abstract

There is disclosed a drink concentrate comprising an acceptable non-cariogenic hydrogenated starch hydrolysate, vitamin C, citric acid, and appropriate flavouring, and may comprise further vitamins. A drink may be made by diluting the concentrate with water.

Description

SPECIFICATION Drink Concentrate The present invention relates to drink concentrates.

Dental caries (localized tooth decay caused by the metabolic products of micro-organisms) is one of the most widespread diseases to be found, especially in children, affecting almost 100% of the population. The damage is caused by sticking colonies of bacteria, notably Streptococcus Mutans and certain of the lactobacilli, adhering to the teeth and producing acid, which causes the decay.

The appearance of these gelatinous colonies, or plaques, has been directly linked with the intake of dietary carbohydrates, the most effective being sucrose which is also the most common. Sucrose is a disaccharide, each molecule consisting of a combination of one molecule of a fructose derivative joined with one molecule of a glucose derivative. This disaccharide is metabolized by Streptococcus Mutans both intracellularly and extracellularly. When broken down extracellularly the resulting glucose and fructose molecules are homogenically polymerised to form long chain glucans (glucose produces dextrans and fructose produces levans). These polysaccha rides form the adhesive capsule around the cells which aliows the bacteria to cling together and to the teeth.

The intracellular anaerobic breakdown of sucrose leads to the production of acid, notably lactic acid.

This is excreted by the cells, and it is protected from the buffering action of saliva by the layer of glycans laid down by the bacteria. Further lactic acid is produced by lactobacilli also present in the plaque.

It is this acid which demineralises and rots the tooth beneath the plaque and causes dental caries.

It is thus inevitable that children with the predilection for all sweet food and drink, should be most affected by this disease. Their high intake of sucrose combined with their inherent reluctance to clean their teeth leads to a high incidence of dental caries. Possibly the most serious manifestation of this disease is found in "nursing bottle syndrome".

This occurs when infants have been given bottles of sweet drinks to reduce their noise levels and the high intake of carbohydrate that this practice entails causes widespread damage to and destruction of most of the child's teeth.

This situation is further exacerbated by the use of "health drinks". These drinks are marketed to give, e.g. children, a useful supplement of vitamins and minerals to their daily diet. However, to make these drinks palatable enough for the children to accept them, they are very sweet, and thus their use contributes greatly to the incidence of caries in children.

Thus, for some time the industry has been concerned with producing a sweet drink preferably of the formulation currently thought of as a "health drink", which does not cause significant decay of the teeth of the consumer.

The cariogenic (caries-inducing) properties of many commercial sweeteners are now known, and almost all cause less decay than sucrose. This is due to the inability of the bacteria to metabolize them adequately, if at all, thus producing little acid and less glycans.

However, so far, drinks formulated using sweeteners in place of sucrose have exhibited a variety of drawbacks. In the case of the well known sweetener saccharin, the drink was found to be unpalatable because of the unpleasant aftertaste, whilst another well known sweetener, sorbitol, which is very non-cariogenic, caused diarrhoea in those infants to whom it was administered. Thus, until now, no palatable non-cariogenic health drink had been successfully formulated.

The use of hydrogenated starch hydrolysates such as sorbitol as sweeteners is well known. These hydrolysates are glucose-based, all the glucose units with free aldehyde groups having been reduced by hydrogenation. Until recently, however, those hydrolysates which possessed "body", without a too pronounced hygroscopic character, were found to be cariogenic. As these were the only hydrogenated starch hydrolysates capable of being used in the manufacture of food products, they were not widely employed.

It was then found that such a hydrolysate was cariogenic because it contained a large proportion of polyols with a degree of polymerization (DP) greater than 20. Those hydrolysates which contained small quantities of these polyols were found to have large amounts of low molecular weight products, notably of DP1 and 2.

A hydrogenated starch hydrolysate was then formulated which contained less than 3% by weight of polyols of DP greater than 20, up to 60% by weight of manitol (DP2), less than 19% by weight of sorbitol (DP1), and the balance to 100% being constituted by polyols of DP3 to 20 (U.K. Patent No.

GB-2038832 B).

A syrup made from such a hydrolysate and sold under the Registered Trade Mark "LYCASIN" has about 0.75 the sweetness of sucrose, is considerably less cariogenic than sucrose (which is approximately two to three times more cariogenic), and has sufficient "body" for inclusion in food products.

The hydrogenated starch hydrolysates suitability for inclusion into a low-cariogenic drink is increased due to its lack of after affects, its ready metabolism by the human gut and its calorific value, the equivalent of sucrose. Its non-cariogenic properties are further enhanced by the fact that, due to its lower sweetness, less citric acid need be included in the drink than is found in those formulated with sucrose. Thus, in addition to promoting bacterial decay less than those drinks formulated with sucrose, any drink formulated with such a hydrolysate would cause less direct damage to teeth.

According to the present invention there is provided a drink concentrate, comprising an acceptable non-cariogenic hydrogenated starch hydrolysate, vitamin C, citric acid, and appropriate flavouring. Optionally the concentrate may include water. If desired the concentrate may include other vitamins in addition to vitamin C.

Preferably the drink is formulated so as to be considered a "health drink", and more preferably is suitable for use with infants.

The non-cariogenic hydrogenated starch hydrolysate suitable for use in the drink concentrate of the present invention is one which contains: less than 3% by weight of polyols of DP higher than 20; up to 60% by weight of maltitol (DP 2); lessthan 19% byweightofsorbitol (DP 11); the balance to 100% being constituted by polyols of DP3 to 20.

The hydrolysate is normally used in the form of a syrup ofthe hydrolysate in water.

Preferably the hydrolysate contains: 35% to 60% by weight of maltitol, and 0.1 to 17% byweightofsorbitol,and more preferably, less than 1.5% by weight of polyols of DP higher than 20; 40 to 55% by weight of maltitol, and 0.3 to 14% byweightofsorbitol.

The concentrate may contain water.

Preferably the concentrate comprises from 75 to 99% by weight hydrogenated starch hydrolysate syrup, preferably 87% by weight; from 6 to 18% by weightflavouring, preferably 12% by weight; from 0.2 to 1% byweightvitamin C, preferably 0.6% by weight; and from 1.6 to 6.4% by weight citric acid, preferably 0.4% by weight.

Water should normally be added to dilute the product before consumption. The invention thus also provides a drink comprising the drink concentrate of the invention and water.

The invention will now be further described by reference to the following Examples, in which all percentages given are percentages by weight.

Lycasin 80/55 is a product comprising hydrogenated homologues of dextrose and the dextrose oligomers present in a specific corn starch obtained by enzymic hydrolysis. The composition of the solid Lycasin 80/55 is shown in Table 1, and some of the properties of Lycasin 80/55 in syrup form are shown in Table 2.

The syrup is clear, colourless and odourless. It does not crystallize at low temperatures or high concentrations, and the glucose syrups inhibits cyrstallization of other components of any product in which it is included. It is more viscous than sucrose syrup of the same concentration, and its viscosity decreases steeply as the temperature increases. The syrup is considerably less hydroscopic than the solid and thus is easier to work with in food manufacture.

TABLE 1 Typical analysis of the composition of dry Lycasin 80/55 Component % Present.

DP1 (Sorbitol) 7.0 DP 2 (Maltitol) 52.5 DP 3 17.5 DP4 1.0 DP 5 2.0 DP 6 2.5 DP 7 3.5 DP 8 2.2 DP 9 1.0 DP10 1.0 From DP 11 to DP 20 9.0 Greaterthan DP 20 0.8 TABLE 2 Lycasin 80/55 specification Dry substance 75% + 1 Refractive index at 20"C 1.4762-1.4815 Specific gravity at 20"C 1.36 Reducing sugars 0.2% maximum Specification rotation a" +115"120" Viscosity (75% solid) 2000 cP pH in solution Resistivity 500,000 ohm-cm min Sulphated ash 0.1% maximum Sulphate 100 mg Keg~1 maximum Chloride 50 mg Kg-' maximum Heavy metals 10 mg Kg-' maximum Nickel 1 mg Kg- maximum In the Examples which follow the Lycasin 80/55 is used in syrup form.

EXAMPLE 1 A blackcu rrant flavoured health drink concentrate for use e.g. as a baby syrup formulated as follows: "Lycasin 80/55" : 91.6% Blackcurrant juice (appres.) 01490 (Barnett & Foster Ltd.) or Blackcurrantjuice 16166 (Barnett & Foster Ltd.)

8.0% Vitamin C : 0.4% Citric acid is contained in the flavouring used.

EXAMPLE 2 An apple-flavoured health drink concentrate for use e.g. as a baby syrup was formulated as follows: "Lycasin 80/55" . 87.2% Apple juice conc. 24059 (Barnett & Foster Ltd.) 6.0% Natural Apple flavour 22295 (Barnett & Foster Ltd.) : 6.0% Vitamin C 0.4% Citric acid 0.4% EXAMPLE 3 An orange flavoured health drink concentrate for use e.g. as a baby syrup was formulated as follows: "Lycasin 80/55" : 82.44% Orange juice conc. : 16.8% Vitamin C : 0.4% Natural Orange booster flavour 22912 0.2% (Barnett & Foster Ltd.) Citric acid 0.16% EXAMPLE 4 An orange and apricot flavoured health drink concentrate for use e.g. as a baby syrup was formulated as follows: "Lycasin 80/55" : 82.24% Orange conc. : 16.60% Apricot flavour E41926 (Fries & Fries) 0.4% Vitamin C 0.4% Orange booster flavour 22912 (Barnett & Foster Ltd.) 0.2% Citric acid : 0.16% EXAMPLE 5 An orange and pineapple flavoured health drink concentrate for use e.g. as a baby syrup was formulated as follows: "Lycasin 80/55" : 80.96% Orange conc. : 16.6% Pineapple flavour 1.68% Vitamin C 0.4% Orange booster flavour 22912 (Barnett & Foster Ltd.) 0.2% Citric acid 0.16%

Claims (17)

1. A drink concentrate comprising an acceptable non-cariogenic hydrogenated starch hydrolysate, vitamin C, citric acid and flavouring.

2. A drink concentrate as claimed in claim 1 further comprising water.

3. A drink concentrate as claimed in claims 1 or 2 further comprising other vitamins.

4. A drink concentrate as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the hydrogenated starch hydrolysate comprises no more than 3% by weight of polyols of DP higher than 20, no more than 60% byweightofmaltitol (DP2) and no more than 19% by weight of sorbitol (DP 11), with the balance to 100%.

5. A drink concentrate as claimed in claim 4 wherein the hydrogenated starch hydrolysate comprises from 35% to 60% by weight of maltitol and 0.1 to 17% sorbitol.

6. A drink concentrate as claimed in claim 5 wherein the hydrogenated starch hydrolysate comprises from 40 to 55% by weight of maltitol, from 0.3to 14% by weight of sorbitol and up to 1.5% by weight of polyols of DP higher than 20.

7. A drink concentrate as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the hydrogenated starch hydrolysate is in the form of a syrup.

8. A drink concentrate as claimed in claim 7 comprising from 75 to 99% by weight of hydrogenated starch hydrolysate syrup.

9. A drink concentrate as claimed in claim 8 comprising 87% by weight of hydrogenated starch hydrolysate syrup.

10. A drink concentrate as claimed in any of the preceding claims comprising from 6 to 18% by weight of flavouring.

11. A drink concentrate as claimed in claim 10 comprising 12% by weight of flavouring.

12. A drink concentrate as claimed in any of the preceding claims comprising from 0.2 to 1% by weight of vitamin C.

13. A drink concentrate as claimed in claim 12 comprising 0.6% by weight of vitamin C.

14. A drink concentrate as claimed in any of the preceding claims comprising from 1.6 to 6.4 % by weight of citric acid.

15. A drink concentrate as claimed in claim 14 comprising 0.4% by weight of citric acid.

16. A drink comprising a drink concentrate as claimed in any of the preceding claims and water.

17. A drink concentrate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Examples.