JP2011067200A5 - - Google Patents

Description

A method of irradiating agricultural products or livestock products with an increased antioxidant content, bioactive content or nucleotide content.

The present invention irradiates foodstuffs such as agricultural products, marine products or livestock products with light,
The present invention relates to a light irradiation method and an irradiation apparatus for increasing the value.

  As home appliances for cooking, refrigerators, microwave ovens, rice cookers, oven toasters, juicers, mixers, and the like are used. These process foods so that they can be eaten. In the trend of health foods in recent years, if the ingredients are delicious before cooking and the content of ingredients that are good for health can be increased, the nutritional value of the ingredients can be increased.

However, no cooking device has been found that increases the nutritional value of ingredients. The far-infrared irradiation drying device is a device that changes the heating method to radiation and heats it to a uniform temperature, and the components do not change. For example, it has also been proposed to dry a food efficiently by processing a far-infrared radiation plate. (For example, see Patent Document 1)

One of the inventors has proposed a method for increasing the amount of amino acids by irradiating ultraviolet rays in the UV-A region during drying or warming of marine products or agricultural products. As an example, squid, skipjack, abalone, shiitake mushrooms and rice crackers were irradiated and reported to have increased amino acid content. (For example, see Patent Document 2)

One of the inventors irradiates seaweed with blue-green light (wavelength range 450 to 560 nm), which increases amino acid precursors such as peptides and glutamic acid and enhances umami, further maintaining green color and flavor. And a method for producing dry seaweed with excellent nutritional value. (For example,
(See Patent Document 3)

A fluorescent lamp is used as a light source for irradiating UV-A, but it is small and consumes little power.
There are no LED lamps used in refrigerators. (For example, see Patent Document 4)

JP 2001-095548 A JP 2002-142665 A JP 2005-245292 A JP 2007-120926 A

None

In Patent Document 1, it is possible to efficiently dry using a far-infrared radiation plate so as not to impair the flavor, but it is not possible to increase the nutrient components. Further, in Patent Document 2, vegetables such as cabbage, carrots, and root vegetables such as radish used for cooking at home have a small amount of amino acids and have a drawback that the effect of UV-A irradiation is not exhibited. Patent Document 3 also proposes a method for producing seaweed with enhanced umami while maintaining the green color, but does not mention other functionalities.
On the other hand, Patent Document 4 describes a refrigerator with a free amino acid increasing function using an LED, and describes the configuration, drive, and control of a light source unit in detail as an example, but no experimental example of increasing amino acid is found. In addition, other nutrients are not mentioned.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to such problems, and has a new added value other than an increase in the amount of amino acids, and how to create a compact food light irradiation device that does not take up space. It is to find a light irradiation method and a light irradiation device that can be applied.

The gist of the present invention for solving the above problems is as follows.
(1) Foods of either agricultural products, fishery products or livestock products are irradiated with visible light in the blue range (wavelength range 400 nm to 500 nm, central wavelength range 450 nm), antioxidant content, physiologically active content or nucleotide content A method for light irradiation of agricultural products, marine products or livestock products is provided.
(2) Instead of visible light in the blue region, UV-A region (wavelength region 300 nm to 400 nm, central wavelength region 350 nm) is irradiated to increase the antioxidant substance content, physiologically active substance content or nucleotide content. There is provided a light irradiation method for agricultural products, marine products or livestock products.

(3) By the light irradiation method according to any one of (1) to (2), drying, storing, or performing light irradiation in a processing step, an antioxidant substance content, a physiologically active substance content, or a nucleotide content Agricultural products, marine products or livestock products are provided, which are increased 1.1 times or more compared to the case of non-irradiation.
(4) A light irradiation device for agricultural products, marine products or livestock products, comprising a light source for irradiating visible light in the blue region or ultraviolet light in the UV-A region from the periphery of the foodstuff, content of antioxidant substance or physiological activity Provided is a light irradiation device for agricultural products, marine products or livestock products characterized in that the substance content or the nucleotide content is increased.

An LED lamp that irradiates UV-A in the upper part is attached to the upper part, and a food light irradiator with a fan that circulates warm air from the lower part is devised and manufactured. When it was seafood and produce blue visible light or UV-A radiation drying, the bioactive substance content or inosinic acid such as antioxidant content or GABA, such as polyphenols, are nucleotide content such guanylate increases It became clear.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a light irradiation food cooking apparatus. Example 1 FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the influence of UV-A on the amounts of 16 kinds of free amino acids contained in shiitake mushrooms. (Example 2) FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the effect of UV-A on the total amount of 16 free amino acids contained in shiitake mushrooms. (Example 3) FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the influence of various wavelengths on the amount of radish equivalent to Trolox. Example 4 FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the influence of various wavelengths on the equivalent of Wakame Trolox. (Example 5) FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the influence of various wavelengths on the Trolox equivalent of shiitake (variety donko). (Example 6) FIG. 7 is a graph showing the influence of various wavelengths on the GABA content contained in the bud embryo. (Example 7) FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the influence of various wavelengths on the total content of four types of catechins contained in homemade tea. (Example 8) FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the influence of various wavelengths on the content of 5 ′ guanylic acid contained in shiitake (variety donko). Example 9

The invention of this application has the features as described above, and an embodiment thereof will be described below.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a devised food light irradiation apparatus, in which A indicates an LED lamp. An LED lamp was provided in the upper part of the apparatus as a light source for irradiating ultraviolet rays and visible light of various wavelengths. In the device devised, the LED lamps were 216 LED lamps in total, 216 LED lamps in the top of 300 mm in length and 350 mm in width. The LED lamp attached to the upper part is not only one kind of UV-A area, for example, but a blue area lamp and a UV-A area LED lamp are mixed and attached, and when cooking aquatic products with a large amount of amino acids, the UV-A lamp is used. When cooking agricultural products such as vegetables with a lot of antioxidants, it is controlled by pressing a button to turn on the blue range lamp, which nutrient value is increased, and various lights are irradiated according to the purpose be able to. The dose should be controlled with a knob.

  I indicates the board on which the sample is placed. As the shape of the plate, a form in which air from below, such as a mesh on a lattice or a porous plate, can be in good contact is desirable. The UV-A intensity on the plate on which the sample 148 mm below the lamp is placed is a maximum of 4.2 μW / cm 2.

  C represents a small fan and O represents a small exhaust fan. When food such as marine products, agricultural products or livestock products is irradiated before cooking, a drying process is often required to reduce the moisture content. In that case, air is sent from below, and the air is exhausted out of the apparatus by an exhaust fan. D is a corrugated plate that disturbs the air, and has a shape in which the air sucked from the blower fan rises to the upper sample plate. Various shapes of the corrugated plate are conceivable depending on the size of the apparatus. By attaching a heater to the corrugated plate, warm air drying is also possible.

  Agricultural products such as vegetables become harder when dried, making it difficult to cook and losing flavor. In such a case, the control circuit may be devised so that only the light irradiation can be performed without operating the blower fan and the exhaust fan that promote drying.

  FIG. 2 shows 16 kinds of free amino acids contained in dried shiitake mushrooms when the harvested shiitake (variety Donko) is placed in the apparatus of FIG. 1 and irradiated with UV-A while drying with warm air. It is the result which showed the influence of UV-A to exert. Shiitake is rich in proline. It can be seen that the amount of amino acids increases when UV-A is irradiated, and the amount of amino acids further increases when the amount of UV-A irradiation is increased, compared to the case where only warm air is passed. The UV-A intensity in the case of UV-A intensity is 4.2 μW / cm 2 on the plate on which the sample located 148 mm below the lamp is placed. The UV-A intensity in the case of weak UV-A is 30% less at 3.0 μW / cm 2 on the plate on which the sample located 148 mm below the lamp is placed.

FIG. 3 shows the total amount of amino acids obtained by summing the amounts of 16 types of free amino acids contained in shiitake mushrooms when the harvested shiitake (variety Donko) is placed in the apparatus of FIG. 1 and irradiated with UV-A while drying with warm air. It is the result which showed the influence of UV-A which acts on the amount of amino acids. In the case of strong UV-A, the total amino acid amount is 1.5 times that in the case of warm air alone, and 1.3 times in the case of UV-A weakness.

FIG. 4 shows the results of the influence of various wavelengths on the Trolox equivalent change during drying in the case of radish. Blue irradiation drying has the most Trolox equivalent, followed by UV-A irradiation drying. A large amount of Trolox equivalent means high antioxidant properties.
Compared to before drying, blue irradiation drying is about 1.81 times, and UV-A irradiation drying is about 1.72 times. On the other hand, compared with warm air drying, both blue and UV-A irradiation drying are about 1.1 times, and there is no big difference, but green irradiation drying is about 0.68 times and red irradiation drying is about 0.8 times. Yes.
Thus, it is judged that blue irradiation drying and UV-A irradiation drying particularly increase antioxidant substances.

Antioxidant is a function of removing active oxygen in the body. It is thought that when active oxygen is produced excessively in the body, the body suffers from oxidative damage, causing lifestyle-related diseases and promoting aging.
Various methods have been proposed for evaluating the antioxidant properties of foods. In the present invention, the antioxidant property was measured using a DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-pcryhydrazyl) spectroscopic method which is a simple and rapid technique and exhibits power in multi-analyte analysis. A large amount of Trolox equivalent means high antioxidant properties.

FIG. 5 shows the results of the influence of various wavelengths on the Trolox equivalent change during drying in the case of seaweed. The amount of Trolox equivalent when dried by irradiating with a blue wavelength is particularly large compared to when irradiating with other wavelengths. Next, UV-A irradiation drying. Compared to before drying, blue irradiation drying is about 3.0 times and UV-A irradiation drying is about 2.1 times. On the other hand, compared with the case of hot air drying, the blue irradiation drying increased by about 1.7 times. Thus, it is judged that blue irradiation drying increases antioxidant substances in particular.

  FIG. 6 is a result showing the influence of various wavelengths on the Trolox equivalent change during drying in the case of shiitake (variety donko). As shown in the figure, the amount of Trolox equivalent when irradiated with light of various wavelengths is increased compared with that before drying and hot air drying. By wavelength, the amount equivalent to Trolox was the highest in the case of blue irradiation drying, and a tendency to decrease as the wavelength increased. In the case of blue irradiation drying, the increase is about 1.82 times compared to before drying, and about 1.61 times compared with warm air drying. Thus, it is judged that the blue irradiation drying increases the antioxidant substance in particular.

  Fig. 7 shows the moths from Aomori Prefecture "Mashigura", dried in warm air while irradiating light of various wavelengths, rinsed, and measured the GABA content of the physiologically active components contained in the germ. It is the result which showed the influence of the various wavelengths which gave to. Germ is a plant embryo, that is, a part of seed that grows and eventually becomes a bud, but it contains a lot of GABA, which is a biologically active ingredient, and germ rice that has been germinated is sold. Yes. The GABA content when dried by irradiating blue is 60.5 mg, which is the highest, followed by 58.3 mg when irradiated with UV-A, which is higher than in the case of sun drying. Blue irradiation drying and UV-A irradiation drying have a 1.4 times increase in GABA content compared to warm air drying. Thus, it is judged that blue irradiation drying and UV-A irradiation drying particularly increase physiologically active substances.

GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) is a type of amino acid that exists in the central nervous system of vertebrates, mainly in the hippocampus, cerebellum, spinal cord, etc., and is also used as a neurotransmitter in arthropods and crustaceans. By doing so, it is said that it has effects such as suppressing neutral fat, increasing liver / kidney function, lowering blood pressure, and calming nerves. The abbreviation GABA, which stands for the English name γ (gamma) -amino butyric acid, is commonly used. A substance having a property of acting on a specific physiological regulation function of a living body like GABA is called a physiologically active substance.

Fig. 8 shows the raw tea leaves from Shizuoka Prefecture “Yabukita” autumn / winter bancha, which are green tea ingredients, placed on a bat, irradiated with light of various wavelengths, then steamed in steam and dried to make a homemade tea and included in the homemade tea 4 shows the results of measuring the content of the four types of catechins and the influence of various wavelengths on the total catechin content. The four types of catechins measured are epigallocatechin, (+) catechin, epigallocatechin garade, and epicatechin garade. The catechin content of the homebrewed tea irradiated with blue is the highest, followed by the content of the homemade tea irradiated with UV-A. Compared to the case of non-irradiation, blue irradiation drying is about 2.4 times and UV-A irradiation drying is about 2.0 times. Thus, it is judged that blue irradiation and UV-A irradiation particularly increase the physiologically active substances contained in tea.

Catechin is the most abundant taste component contained in green tea, about 15% is catechins, the main thing is epigallocatechin garade, followed by epigallocatechin and epicatechin garade. In addition to deodorizing effects, catechins contained in tea leaves have a wide variety of physiological activities, and reported on lifestyle-related diseases, cancer prevention, antibacterial action, antioxidant properties, suppression of adipocyte development, etc. Has been.

Fig. 9 shows dried shiitake (variety donko) from Iwate Prefecture, dried in warm air while irradiating light of various wavelengths, and measured the 5 'guanylic acid content of the taste components contained in shiitake mushrooms. It is the result which showed the influence of the various wavelengths which gave to. By wavelength, UV-A irradiation drying has the highest content, followed by blue irradiation drying. UV-A irradiation drying is about 1.42 times that of hot air drying, and blue irradiation drying is It has increased by about 1.38. 5 'guanylic acid is classified as a nucleotide. Thus, it is judged that blue irradiation and UV-A irradiation particularly increase nucleotides of taste components contained in shiitake.

5 'guanylic acid contained in shiitake mushrooms is the three major flavor components of dashi, along with umami glutamic acid and bonito umami inosine. 5 'guanylic acid (GMP) is one of the components of ribonucleic acid (RNA), and inosinic acid (IMP) is a product obtained by deamination of adenylic acid constituting nucleic acid. Guanylic acid, inosinic acid and the like are called nucleotides and are components of nucleic acids that play an important role in the inheritance of organisms and the biosynthesis of proteins. It is the same as an amino acid being a protein component. It is also found in almost all foods in free form, including meat, fish, milk, dairy products and vegetables.

Agricultural or marine products, or livestock products in food to increase the antioxidant content or bioactive substance content or nucleotide content by ultraviolet irradiation of visible light or UV-A region of the blue region, such as, increasing the ingredients of the functional be able to. Moreover, if the food light irradiation apparatus devised is used, a food material excellent in functionality and taste can be produced.

The light irradiation method of the present invention that enhances the functionality and nutritional value of fresh food such as agricultural products, marine products or livestock products can be applied to food processing processes in various food industries and local agricultural and fishery industries.

A LED lamp B Plate on which the sample is placed C Blower fan D Corrugated plate that disturbs the air E Exhaust fan

Claims (4)

Irradiate visible light in the blue range (wavelength range of 400 nm to 500 nm, central wavelength range of 450 nm) to any food product of agricultural products, fishery products or livestock products to increase the content of antioxidants, bioactive substances or nucleotides A method of irradiating agricultural products, marine products or livestock products. Instead of visible light in the blue range, UV-A range (wavelength range 300 nm to 400 nm, central wavelength range 350 nm) is irradiated to increase the antioxidant substance content, physiologically active substance content or nucleotide content. A light irradiation method for agricultural, marine or livestock products. When the antioxidant, bioactive substance, or nucleotide content is not irradiated by light irradiation in the drying, storage, or processing step by the light irradiation method according to any one of claims 1 to 2. Agricultural products or marine products or livestock products characterized by being increased 1.1 times or more. A light irradiation device for agricultural products, marine products or livestock products, comprising a light source for irradiating visible light in the blue region or ultraviolet light in the UV-A region from around the food, and containing an antioxidant substance content or a physiologically active substance content or A light irradiation apparatus for agricultural, marine or livestock products characterized in that the nucleotide content increases.