JP2009132659A - Relaxation agent - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a relaxation agent comprising an extract of hop with water as an active ingredient and a food and beverage containing the relaxation agent. <P>SOLUTION: The relaxation agent comprises an extract of hop tissue with water as an active ingredient. The food and beverage contains the relaxation agent. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a relaxation agent.

  Hops are an essential ingredient for producing effervescent alcoholic beverages such as beer, and are said to give bitterness and aroma to beer, improve foaming and foam retention, improve clarity, and suppress the propagation of germs. Yes. Hops have pharmacological effects such as healthy stomach and digestion promotion, and have been used as medicinal plants.

  In recent years, focusing on the usefulness of such hops, attempts have been made to apply the extract to uses other than beer. For example, it contains a heat-resistant acidophilic bacterial growth inhibitor containing hop extract as an active ingredient (Patent Document 1), a flavor improver for rice processed food containing hop extract as an active ingredient (Patent Document 2), and a hop extract Applications such as a bathing agent (Patent Document 3) and a hop extract (Patent Document 4) having an active oxygen scavenging action have been proposed.

  Moreover, focusing on the relaxation effect, sedative effect, anti-stress effect, etc. of hops, an antidepressant or anxiolytic pharmaceutical composition containing hops (Patent Document 5), an insomnia composition containing hops (Patent Document 6) ) Is known, and it has been reported that an essential oil component which is a hop extract has an anti-stress effect (Patent Document 7).

JP 2005-137241 A JP 2005-269988 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-0667245 JP-A-4-202138 JP 2005-272342 A JP 2003-183174 A JP 2006-213628 A

  However, in modern society, the tension state of the body based on various stresses has become a problem, and materials that can further exert a relaxation effect are demanded.

  Then, the objective of this invention is providing the effective relaxation agent which used the hop as the raw material. The objective of this invention is also providing the food / beverage products containing the said relaxation agent.

  The present invention provides a relaxation agent comprising a hop tissue water extract as an active ingredient.

  Since hops contain many extractable components, extracts with different compositions can be obtained if extraction conditions such as extraction media and extraction temperature are different, and the effects of the extract are also different. Become. In this way, the present inventors have found that a hydrophilic component obtained by water-extracting a hop tissue is particularly effective for a relaxation effect, a sedative effect, an anti-stress action, and the like. In addition, since the hop is a plant mainly used for brewing beer and used for various purposes other than brewing for a long time, the hop-derived relaxation agent is excellent in safety to the human body.

  Hop tissue water extract consists of astragalin, astragalin malonyl glucoside, isoquercitrin, isoquercitrin malonyl glucoside, quercetin malonyl glucoside, kaempferol rutinoside, kaempferol malonyl glucoside, rutin and fluoroacylphenone glycosides It is preferable to contain at least one flavonoid glycoside selected from the group, and the fluoroacylphenone glycoside includes fluoroisobutyrophenone-2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, fluoro-2-methylbutyrophenone It is preferable to contain at least one selected from the group consisting of -2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside and fluoroisovalerophenone-2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside. By including such a component, the above-described effects are remarkably exhibited.

  Since the above components can be extracted at a high content, the hop tissue is preferably hop stems, leaves, bulbs or dry pulverized products thereof, and pulverized dry hop cakes are particularly preferable. From the same viewpoint, the hop tissue is preferably a product obtained by removing at least a part of a pulverized product having a size of lupurin or less from a pulverized product of dried hops. A pulverized product of frozen hop bulbs can be used. In addition, as a hop structure | tissue, you may use the hop residue obtained by removing at least one part of the substance extracted from a hop bulb flower by organic-solvent extraction or supercritical fluid extraction from the said hop bulb flower.

  By the way, since hop contains a bitter component, it has been difficult to use it as a food or drink other than effervescent alcoholic beverages such as beer. However, with respect to the hydrophilic component obtained by water extraction of the hop tissue, extraction of the hop bitter component is suppressed. Moreover, when this hydrophilic component is added to food and drink, the hydrophilic component and the food and drink can be easily mixed because of having hydrophilicity. For this reason, the relaxation agent of the present invention containing a water extract of hop tissue is excellent in relaxation action and safety, is suppressed from extraction of hop bitterness components, and is easily mixed with food and drink. Therefore, it can be used by being contained in food or drink.

  Moreover, since the said hydrophilic component hardly contains terpenes, such as a linalool and myrsenol contained in a hop, the artificial fragrance peculiar to terpenes is suppressed. For this reason, the relaxation agent of this invention containing the water extract of a hop structure | tissue can be applied to daily goods, such as food / beverage products and cosmetics, a fragrance | flavor, toiletries, and a detergent of wide use.

  The relaxation agent which uses a hop water extract as an active ingredient, and the food / beverage products containing this relaxation agent are provided.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the relaxation agent of the present invention will be described.

  The relaxation agent of the present invention adjusts the balance between sympathetic nerve activity and parasympathetic nerve activity and exhibits a relaxation action, and is characterized by containing a water extract of hop tissue as an active ingredient.

  As for the hop used in the present invention, any hop varieties can be subjected to water extraction, but the Czech Saats species, the German Haratau Magnum species, the German Haratau Tradition species, the New Zealand Pacific Haratau species, Domestic franco No. 18 and Chinese hop varieties are preferred.

  The hop organization in the present invention means any one or a part of the hop organization. The hop tissue used for water extraction may be a stem, a leaf or a bulb flower, preferably a bulb flower, and more preferably a hop wrinkle. Further, dry pulverized products of these tissues are also preferably used. The dry pulverized product or the pulverized product of the dry tissue can be obtained, for example, by processing the hop tissue by two steps of drying and pulverization, but the order of the two steps is not particularly limited. In addition, about the process of drying and grinding | pulverization, it is as below-mentioned.

  The hop structure used in the present invention is more preferably a pulverized product of dried hop koji or a pulverized product of dried hop bulbs, from which at least a part of the pulverized product having a size of lupurin or less is removed. . The hop cocoon is a cocoon leaf constituting the hop bulb flower, and can be obtained by removing at least a part of lupurin (oil droplet-like yellow granules) from the bulb flower. For this reason, the hop structure used for the water extraction of the present invention may be a hop koji that is discarded without being pulverized to a specified size when processing hop pellets used for brewing foaming alcoholic beverages such as beer. Further, it may be a hop residue remaining after the hop bulb flower described later is extracted with a supercritical fluid or an organic solvent.

  The hop structure as described above includes, for example, a drying step of drying hop bulbs to obtain dry hop bulbs, a pulverization step of pulverizing dried hop bulbs to obtain a pulverized product of dried hop bulbs, and this pulverization. And a sorting step for removing a pulverized product having a size equal to or less than the size of lupulin from the product. In the drying process, the hop bulbs are dried at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less, and the water content is removed to such an extent that the hop bulbs can be stored, but the moisture content is dried to 7-9% at a temperature of 55 ° C. or less. It is preferable to do. In the pulverization step, the hop bulbs may be efficiently pulverized into a fine powder. For the pulverization, for example, a pulverizer such as a pin mill, a hammer mill, or a ball mill can be used. In the sorting step, the pulverized product is sieved, and, for example, the pulverized product having a major axis of 0.1 mm or more can be selected as a “size larger than lupulin”. In this case, the size that does not allow the sieve to pass is preferably 0.3 mm or more in the major axis, and more preferably 0.5 mm or more in the major axis. In order to remove the pulverized material having a size smaller than the size of lupulin from the pulverized material of dried hops, for example, the pulverized material of dried hops is screened with a sieve having an aperture of 0.1, 0.3 or 0.5 mm. What is necessary is just to collect the pulverized material which did not pass through.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the pulverized material of dried hop bulbs used as the hop tissue is a pulverized product of frozen dried hop bulbs. The pulverized product of dried hop bulbs can be processed by three steps of drying, freezing and pulverizing hop bulbs, but the order of these three steps is not particularly limited. The drying and pulverization steps are as described above, and the method of the freezing step is not particularly limited, but the freezing temperature is preferably −10 ° C. or lower, more preferably −35 ° C. or lower.

  As a hop structure, you may use the hop residue obtained by removing at least one part of the substance extracted from a hop bulb by organic solvent extraction or supercritical fluid extraction from the hop bulb. As an organic solvent used for organic solvent extraction, alcohol or hexane is mentioned, for example, C1-C4 lower alcohol is preferable and ethanol is more preferable. Examples of the supercritical fluid used for supercritical fluid extraction include carbon dioxide, water, methane, ethane, ethylene, propane, pentane, methanol, and ethanol, and carbon dioxide is preferable.

  The water extract of hop tissue in the present invention is obtained by a production method including a step of extracting a hop tissue with water. In order to shorten the extraction time, the extraction efficiency can be increased by adding a small amount of alcohol, preferably ethanol, to 10% by mass or less to water.

  As a method of extracting the hop tissue with water, a method of extracting a natural product from a plant can be adopted. For example, a hop tissue and a certain amount of water are placed in a container, and left to stand for a predetermined time with appropriate stirring, and extracted. There is a method of removing the residue by filtering the liquid. In order to completely remove residues, impurities, and the like, the filtered extract may be further centrifuged, and the supernatant (centrifugal supernatant) can be used as a water extract. The obtained water extract can be concentrated and dried for use.

  The water extract of hop tissue may be purified. For example, it can be purified by passing through a column packed with a synthetic adsorbent. Examples of the synthetic adsorbent include Amberlite XAD-4, 7 and 16 (organo), activated carbon, and polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP; polyphenol adsorbent). Among them, Amberlite XAD-4 is preferably used. Specifically, the water extract of hop tissue is passed through a column filled with a synthetic adsorbent, and the adsorbed component is eluted with, for example, a mixed solvent of water and methanol, and the eluted fraction can be used.

  Aqueous extracts of hop tissue typically include astragalin, astragalin malonyl glucoside, isoquercitrin, isoquercitrin malonyl glucoside, quercetin malonyl glucoside, kaempferol rutinoside, kaempferol malonyl glucoside, rutin and fluoroacylphenone It contains at least one flavonoid glycoside selected from the group consisting of glycosides.

［式（１）中、Ｒ^１はイソプロピル基、イソブチル基又はｓｅｃ−ブチル基を示す。］ Here, the fluoroacylphenone glycoside can be represented by the following general formula (1).

[In the formula (1), R ¹ represents an isopropyl group, an isobutyl group or a sec-butyl group. ]

In the formula (1), when R ¹ is an isopropyl group, the fluoroacylphenone glycoside is fluoroisobutyrophenone-2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside represented by the following formula (2), and R ¹ Is an isobutyl group, the fluoroacylphenone glycoside is fluoro-2-methylbutyrophenone-2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside represented by the following formula (3), and R ¹ is a sec-butyl group. In this case, the fluoroacylphenone glycoside is fluoroisovalerophenone-2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside represented by the following formula (4).

  The food / beverage products of this invention contain the relaxation agent mentioned above as an active ingredient, and may contain the additive normally used in the said field | area. Examples of this additive include apple fiber, soybean fiber, meat extract, black vinegar extract, gelatin, corn starch, honey, animal and vegetable oils and fats, monosaccharides such as glucose, disaccharides such as sucrose, fructose and mannitol, dextrose and starch, etc. Polysaccharides, sugar alcohols such as erythritol, xylitol, and sorbitol, and vitamins such as vitamin C. These additives may be used alone or in combination.

In addition, relaxation agents are incorporated into foods and drinks such as foods for specified health use, special nutritional foods, dietary supplements, health foods, functional foods and foods for the sick, daily products such as air fresheners, toiletries and detergents. You can also.
[Example]

  EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although an Example is given and this invention is demonstrated concretely, this invention is not limited to a following example at all. Further, unless otherwise specified, “%” represents “mass%”.

1. Experimental material (preparation of hop tissue water extract)
Spent is a fraction produced as a by-product in the production process of lupulin-rich hop pellets (Czech zazat species: SSA type 90) produced from dried hop bulbs and at least part of lupulin is removed. A water extract of hop tissue was prepared from hops.

  First, the hop was dried at 50 ° C. until the water content became 8%, and pulverized by a dedicated pulverizer, and a tissue of 0.3 mm or more that did not pass through a sieve having an opening of 0.3 mm was recovered as a spent hop. . The spent hop was suspended in water to 5% and extracted by standing overnight. Thereafter, each water extract was filtered (ADVANTEC No. 5A) to remove the residue, concentrated, and the lyophilized powder was used as a water extract of hop tissue.

2. Experimental results (pulse measurement when hop tissue water extract is ingested)
In order to clarify the relaxation effect, sedation effect, and anti-stress effect of the water extract of hop tissue, the pulse of a healthy person who took the water extract of hop tissue was measured. First, after resting for 5 minutes, the pulse was measured using an acceleration pulse wave measurement system (Arted by Yumedica Co., Ltd.). Next, an aqueous solution in which 200 ml of water or 200 mg of hop tissue water extract was dissolved in 200 ml of water was ingested, and the pulse from immediately after ingestion to 6 minutes after ingestion was measured every 2 minutes.

  After estimating the heart rate variability using the time fluctuation of the measured pulse wave, the heart rate variability was analyzed to obtain a high frequency component (HF) and a low frequency component (LF) of the heart rate variability. Then, as an autonomic nerve activity index, a high frequency component representing a parasympathetic nerve activity index / (low frequency component + high frequency component) (HF / (LF + HF)), and a low frequency component / high frequency component representing an sympathetic nerve activity index (LH / HF). ) Was calculated.

  FIG. 1 is a graph showing the time variation of the parasympathetic activity index HF / (LF + HF), and FIG. 2 is a graph showing the time variation of the sympathetic activity index LH / HF.

  When the water extract of hop tissue is ingested, the parasympathetic nerve activity index HF / (LF + HF) is increased as shown in FIG. 1 compared with the case of ingesting water, and as shown in FIG. The index LH / HF decreased. From this result, it was shown that the water extract of hop tissue has an action of enhancing parasympathetic nerve activity and relaxing sympathetic nerve activity, and has a relaxation effect, a sedative effect, and an anti-stress action.

It is a graph which shows the time fluctuation of the parasympathetic nerve activity parameter | index HF / (LF + HF). It is a graph which shows the time fluctuation of the sympathetic nerve activity parameter | index LH / HF.

Claims (9)

  A relaxation agent containing a water extract of hop tissue as an active ingredient.   The water extract is from the group consisting of astragalin, astragalin malonyl glucoside, isoquercitrin, isoquercitrin malonyl glucoside, quercetin malonyl glucoside, kaempferol rutinoside, kaempferol malonyl glucoside, rutin and fluoroacylphenone glycosides. The relaxation agent of Claim 1 containing at least 1 sort (s) of the selected flavonoid glycoside.   The fluoroacylphenone glycoside includes fluoroisobutyrophenone-2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, fluoro-2-methylbutyrophenone-2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, and fluoroisovalerophenone-2-O-β. The relaxation agent according to claim 2, comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of -D-glucopyranoside.   The relaxation agent according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the hop tissue is a hop stem, a leaf, a bulb flower, or a dry pulverized product thereof.   The relaxation agent according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the hop structure is a pulverized product of dried hop koji.   The relaxation agent according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the hop tissue is obtained by removing at least a part of a pulverized product having a size of lupurin or less from a pulverized product of dried hop bulbs.   The relaxation agent according to claim 6, wherein the pulverized product of dried hop bulbs is a pulverized product of frozen dried hop bulbs.   The hop tissue is a hop residue obtained by removing at least a part of a substance extracted from a hop bulb flower by organic solvent extraction or supercritical fluid extraction from the hop bulb flower. The relaxation agent according to claim 1. Food / beverage products containing the relaxation agent as described in any one of Claims 1-8.

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