JP2001057863A - Fresh wheat leaf powder with gamma-aminobutyric acid content increased - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide young wheat leaves, powder of young wheat leaves and powder of young wheat leaf squeeze including γ-aminobutyric acid that has the vasodepressor activity in high concentration. SOLUTION: Young wheat leaves are anaerobically treated and/or heat- treated at 20-50 deg.C. Further, the treated leaves are dried to give the objective powder of young wheat leaves or powder of young wheat leaf squeeze including a high content of γ-aminobutyric acid.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method for increasing the content of γ-aminobutyric acid (hereinafter sometimes referred to as GABA) in wheat young leaves.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since GABA has a blood pressure lowering effect, foods containing a large amount of GABA have been studied for people with hypertension. For example, conventionally, in the process of producing tea, the plucked tea leaves are placed under anaerobic conditions, and GA is added to the tea leaves.
A so-called GABARON tea in which BA is accumulated in a large amount is known. JP-A-8-173111 describes that coffee tea leaves having a high GABA concentration are obtained by a method of treating coffee tea leaves in an anoxic state, followed by heat treatment and drying at a high temperature of 110 ° C. or higher. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open
No. 2,059,893 discloses a method of irradiating tea leaves with infrared rays.
It is described to improve the content of BA.

[0003] Tea leaves obtained by these methods are extracted by pouring boiling water, and the amount of GABA that can be ingested is small.

On the other hand, wheat young leaves are rich in vitamins and insoluble dietary fiber, adsorb harmful substances, improve the intestinal environment, suppress cholesterol absorption, prevent a sharp rise in postprandial blood glucose, and activate superoxide dismutase (SOD). Is attracting attention as a health food with effects such as
BA is also abundantly contained. In addition, since processed wheat young leaves are ingested as they are, they are suitable for ingesting a large amount of GABA.

[0005]

The higher the GABA content of the wheat young leaves themselves, which is the starting material, the higher the GABA content of the obtained processed wheat young leaves. Therefore, it is desired to increase the GABA content of wheat young leaves themselves.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems The inventor of the present invention has developed a wheat young leaf G.
The aim of increasing the ABA content was to study the treatment method of wheat young leaves, and surprisingly, the wheat young leaves were kept warm at an appropriate temperature, subjected to anaerobic treatment, or a combination of these treatments. Have been found to be able to increase the GABA content of the present invention, and have completed the present invention.

That is, the present invention provides wheat young leaves for 10 minutes to 2 minutes.
The present invention relates to wheat young leaf powder having an increased content of γ-aminobutyric acid (excluding those retaining a green color) obtained by anaerobic treatment and / or heat-retaining treatment at 20 ° C. to 50 ° C. for 4 hours. In addition, the present invention relates to wheat young leaf powder containing γ-aminobutyric acid twice or more as usual (however, excluding those holding green).

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION As a raw material of wheat young leaf powder according to the present invention, young leaves of barley, such as barley, wheat and rye, may be mentioned. Barley is particularly preferred, and green leaves harvested in the early stage of splitting or in the early stage of heading are most suitable.

After harvesting, the wheat leaves are washed with water or the like, drained and treated as they are, or cut into appropriate lengths (for example, 10 cm) and treated.

Anaerobic treatment means treatment with an oxygen-free or oxygen-free gas. Including vacuum conditions. As the gas, carbon dioxide gas and nitrogen gas are preferably used. The temperature of the anaerobic treatment is preferably about 20 to 50C, more preferably about 30 to 45C, and most preferably about 40C.

The time of the anaerobic treatment and / or the heat retention treatment is 10
Minutes to 24 hours, preferably 1 to 6 hours. The temperature of the anaerobic treatment and / or the heat retention treatment is about 20 to 5
0 ° C. is preferred, about 30-45 ° C. is more preferred, and 40 ° C.
C. is most preferred. If the temperature is lower than 20 ° C. or higher than 50 ° C., the content of GABA is difficult to increase.

[0012] The method of the heat retaining treatment is not limited. Warm water treatment, infrared irradiation treatment, incubator treatment and the like can be mentioned.

The wheat leaf thus obtained has a GABA content which is higher than that of untreated wheat leaf by a factor of at least two, preferably at least three, more preferably at least five.

Wheat young leaves having an increased GABA content obtained by the present treatment method (hereinafter referred to as GABA-enriched wheat young leaves)
Can be used as a dry powder or a squeezed dry powder.

At any stage of the processing, the treated wheat young leaves are subjected to a heat treatment (in any method, for example, boiling, steaming, hot air, etc.) for inactivating enzymes which may cause discoloration or deterioration of the processed product. Treatment, electromagnetic wave treatment, etc.), and preferably a rapid cooling treatment.

Further, in order to prevent a green discoloration change of the processed wheat young leaves, an alkaline aqueous solution is attached to the wheat young leaves before the processing, if necessary. Furthermore, in the case of a juice powder, the pH of the juice can be adjusted to a range of 6 to 9 by means such as adding an alkaline aqueous solution to the juice.

The wheat young leaf powder is obtained by treating the wheat leaf of this treatment with a water content of 1
It can be obtained by drying to a concentration of 0% or less, preferably 5% or less, and further pulverizing.

As the drying method, any drying method such as hot-air drying, high-pressure steam drying, electromagnetic wave drying, and freeze drying can be used. Drying is preferably performed at a temperature as low as possible. Even when heating and drying, the drying is preferably performed at, for example, 50 to 80 ° C, preferably 55 to 65 ° C.

The pulverization can be carried out according to a known method, for example, using a machine such as a crusher, a mill, a blender, a stone mill, or the like.

The thus obtained wheat young leaf powder is G
2 times, preferably 3 times, more preferably 5 times, as compared to wheat young leaf powder obtained from wheat young leaves not subjected to the ABA enrichment treatment.
Contains GABA more than twice.

The juice powder can be obtained by pulverizing the juice obtained by squeezing GABA-enriched wheat young leaves.

The squeezing is performed by adding water as needed, mechanically crushing by a known method, for example, using a mixer, a juicer or the like, and further by centrifugation, filtration and the like.

The squeezed juice thus obtained is pulverized by spray drying or freeze drying.

The amount of GABA contained in the thus obtained wheat young leaf juice powder is twice, preferably three times, that of the juice powder obtained from wheat young leaves not subjected to the GABA enrichment treatment. More preferably 5 times or more, 800 mg /
It is 100 g, preferably 1000 mg / 100 g, more preferably 1500 mg / 100 g, even more preferably 2000 mg / 100 g or more.

Further, the juice can be spray-dried or freeze-dried after adding excipients such as dextrin, cyclodextrin, starch and maltose.

These processed wheat young leaves (powder and squeezed powder) can be sterilized by a known method, if necessary.

The obtained wheat young leaf powder and wheat young leaf juice powder can be used for eating and drinking as they are, but excipients, extenders, binders, thickeners, emulsifiers, coloring agents, flavors, food additives. It can also be mixed with a seasoning or the like and formed into powders, granules, tablets or the like according to the intended use, and further blended with various foods and drinks for use in eating and drinking.

Since the wheat young leaf powder or the wheat young leaf juice powder produced by the method of the present invention contains GABA at a high concentration, it can be purified as required to obtain a pure GABA product. is there.

[0029]

EXAMPLES (Example 1) Young leaves were collected from barley having a plant height of about 20 to 50 cm, washed with water, and about 100 g of young barley leaves cut into about 10 cm was used.

After treating the young barley leaves in an incubator with warm air at the temperature shown in Table 1 for 1 hour, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was measured using an automatic amino acid analyzer under the following conditions. did. <Operation conditions of automatic amino acid analyzer> Model: JLC-500 / V (JEOL Ltd.) Column: LCR-6, 4 mm x 90 mm (JEOL Ltd.) Mobile phase: lithium citrate buffer (JEOL Ltd.) ) P-21 (pH 2.98, Li 0.105 mol / l) 0 → 16.9 min P-12 (pH 3.28, Li 0.26 mol / l) 16.3 → 36.1 min P-13 (pH 3.46, Li 0.80 mol / l) 36.1 → 56.0 min P-14 (pH 2.83, Li 1.54 mol / l) 56.0 → 63.4 min P-15 (pH 3.65, Li 1.54 mol / l) 63.4 → 80.0 min Reaction solution: Ninhydrin / hydridantine TS (Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd.) ) Temperature: Column 35 ℃ (0 → 16.3min), 64 ℃ (15.3 → 31.0min) 44 ℃ (31.0 → 44.4min), 72 ℃ (63.4 → 80.0min) Reactor 135 ℃ Flow rate: 0.50 ml of mobile phase / min Reaction solution 0.30 ml / min Measurement wavelength: 570 nm

When the barley leaf is dried by heat, the apparent GABA content becomes high. Therefore, the water content of the barley leaf after treatment is measured, and the water content of the barley leaf is measured to be the same as that of the barley leaf before treatment. The GABA value of the treated young barley leaves was corrected. Table 1 shows the results.

[0032]

[Table 1]

From these results, it can be seen that the GABA content in the young barley leaves was increased by the heat treatment at 20 to 50 ° C.

Example 2 As in Example 1, young barley leaves were placed in an incubator with warm air for the time shown in Table 2 for 4 hours.
After the heat treatment at 0 ° C., GABA was measured.

Table 2 shows the results.

[0036]

[Table 2]

The results show that the treatment for 10 minutes to 24 hours increased the GABA content in the young leaves of barley.

(Example 3) The young barley leaves prepared in Example 1 were subjected to a heat treatment at 40 ° C for 60 minutes by the method shown in Table 3, and then the GABA was measured.

The infrared treatment was performed by setting a 400 W infrared radiation device at a position where the surface temperature of the young barley leaves reached a predetermined temperature.

The hot water treatment was carried out by immersing young barley leaves in hot water of a predetermined temperature in a beaker.

Table 3 shows the results.

[0042]

[Table 3]

From these results, it can be seen that the GABA content in the young leaves of barley is increased irrespective of the heat treatment method.

Example 4 The barley young leaves prepared in Example 1 were subjected to anaerobic treatment under the conditions shown in Table 4, and then GAB
A was measured.

The anaerobic treatment was carried out by packing young barley leaves in a plastic bag, evacuating air and filling with nitrogen gas, and keeping this at a predetermined temperature in an incubator.

Table 4 shows the results.

[0047]

[Table 4]

From these results, it can be seen that the GABA content in the young barley leaves was increased by the anaerobic treatment. Further, it can be seen that the anaerobic treatment at 40 ° C. further increased the GABA content.

Example 5 Barley young leaves kept at 40 ° C. for 1 hour in the incubator prepared in Example 1 were
It was dried in a dryer at 60 ° C. so that the water content was 5% or less. It was further crushed by a blender to obtain barley young leaf powder.

The same treatment was applied to the young barley leaves not subjected to the heat treatment to obtain barley young leaf powder.

Table 5 shows the results of measuring GABA of the barley young leaf powder.

[0052]

[Table 5]

From these results, it can be seen that the GABA content is increased in the GABA-enriched barley young leaf powder.

(Example 6) Young barley leaves kept at 40 ° C for 1 hour in the incubator prepared in Example 1,
The juice was pulverized and squeezed by a mixer, and filtered to remove squeezed fiber. This juice was spray-dried to obtain a juice powder.

The same treatment was applied to the young barley leaves that were not subjected to the heat-retention treatment to obtain barley young leaf juice powder.

Table 6 shows the results of measuring GABA of these barley young leaf juice powders.

[0057]

[Table 6]

From these results, it can be seen that the GABA-enriched barley young leaf juice powder has an increased GABA content.

[0059]

According to the present invention, wheat young leaves are subjected to anaerobic treatment and / or 20 ° C to 5 ° C.
Heat treatment at 0 ° C. increases the content of γ-aminobutyric acid in wheat young leaves. By drying and pulverizing the wheat young leaves, or by squeezing the wheat young leaves to prepare a juice and drying, a wheat young leaf powder and a wheat young leaf juice powder having a high γ-aminobutyric acid content are provided. .

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A wheat young leaf powder having an increased content of γ-aminobutyric acid, obtained by subjecting wheat young leaves to anaerobic treatment and / or heat treatment at 20 ° C. to 50 ° C. for 10 minutes to 24 hours (provided that green leaves are green) ). 2. A wheat young leaf powder containing γ-aminobutyric acid twice or more as usual (except for those retaining green color).