JP2011254709A - Food quality improving agent - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a food quality improving agent to be added as a gelling agent to a food or beverage for preventing aspiration of the elderly or a patient suffering from difficulty in mastication and swallowing caused by eating disorder because a form of food is a serious problem threatening the life of the elderly and research is often conducted to provide such foods as can be orally taken by a person with disability in mastication and swallowing, and because such a food that boluses cohere with appropriate hardness to be easily swallowed and with less stickiness is desired.SOLUTION: By adding the food quality improving agent containing xanthan gum, tara gum and glucomannan to the food or beverage, such excellent aptitude for eating and swallowing as suppressed stickiness inside the oral cavity and coherence of boluses is given to the food or beverage.

Description

  The present invention relates to a food quality improver that is added as a gelling agent to foods and drinks in order to prevent aspiration of patients and elderly people who have difficulty chewing and swallowing due to eating disorders. In particular, the present invention relates to a chewing / swallowing aid that can be gelled without stirring using a stirrer to impart gel properties to food and drink.

As you get older, you experience a variety of declines in physical function. One of them is a decrease in mastication / swallowing function. Eating for humans is one of the pleasures, and it is important to choose foods that can be eaten by elderly people with these functions. Further, those who have difficulty in chewing / swallowing have a so-called aspiration that causes food to mistakenly flow into the trachea during swallowing, causing pneumonia, death from suffocation, etc., and the form of food is a problem that threatens the lives of the elderly.
Many studies have been conducted to provide foods that can be taken orally even by people who have difficulty chewing and swallowing, and foods that have moderate hardness that is easy to swallow and that have less stickiness and a bunch of bolus are desired. .
Therefore, gelling agents such as agar, gelatin, and carrageenan have been conventionally used as gelling agents for gelling food and drink. However, in order to exert the gelling function, it is necessary to once heat the food / beverage product containing the gelling agent to 70 to 80 ° C. or higher and then cool it to the gelling temperature. There has been a demand for a food quality improver that takes about 1 to 3 hours and gels food and drink in a simple process and without a heating process or cooling process. In particular, gel foods that are prepared as foods and drinks for people with difficulty in chewing or swallowing, with a series of movements of chewing and crushing food, are targeted for those who have difficulty chewing and swallowing and their caregivers. It is often prepared on the spot by adding a gelling agent to food and drink. However, when a conventional gelling agent is used, a heating step and a cooling step are essential, and there is a risk of being burned with hot water at the time of preparation. It has a problem that it takes a long time of ˜3 hours and lacks usability.
As a technique for thickening and coagulating food without requiring a heating step, a method of adding carrageenan, sodium alginate, xanthan gum and / or carboxymethylcellulose in the presence of sodium hydrogen carbonate and an organic acid, such as “medication supplement” (for example, Patent Document 1)), and a mixture obtained by mixing powder of 98 to 60 parts by weight of glucomannan with 2 to 40 parts by weight of xanthan gum, the main component being 5000 rpm under conditions of room temperature or lower Mastication / swallowing aid “Mastication / swallowing aid” (for example, see Patent Document 2) that imparts gel properties to foods and drinks by stirring as described above, xanthan gum, guar gum and / or tara gum in a liquid food at 0 to 60 ° C. Is added using a stirrer, and the liquid food gelling agent and the method for producing a gel food “liquid” Method for producing a food gelling agent and a gel-like food "(e.g., see Patent Document 3.) And the like have been reported.
However, the invention described in Patent Document 1 is a technique for thickening the target food, and when attempting to gel the liquid food, it is necessary to take a certain time for the gelation of the target liquid food. The molecular interactions of polysaccharides are often inhibited at high salt concentrations and low pH regions, and when added to miso soup or orange juice, sufficient thickening / gelling effects cannot be obtained.
In addition, the techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3 are prepared by adding a chewing / swallowing aid or gelling agent for liquid food to a food or drink, and stirring using a stirring device such as a mixer or a blender. This makes it possible to provide a gel food in a short time. On the other hand, stirring by a stirrer is indispensable instead of requiring a heating process and a cooling process, so that a person with difficulty in chewing / swallowing or a caregiver can use it as a target food or drink at bedside or on the go There has been a need for a more convenient food quality modifier that can be prepared by adding a gelling agent.

Japanese Patent No. 3795365 JP 2008-301775 A JP 2009-278968 A

  An object of this invention is to provide the food quality improving agent which provides the physical property with high food intake and swallowing property to food and drink, without stirring using a stirring apparatus.

  As a result of diligent efforts to solve the above problems, the present inventors have used food quality improvers containing xanthan gum, tara gum and glucomannan, so that they can eat food and drink without stirring using a stirring device. -It discovered that the gel property with high swallowing aptitude could be provided, and resulted in completion of this invention.

  That is, the present invention relates to a food quality improver that contains xanthan gum, tara gum, and glucomannan and imparts a gel property with high intake and swallowability to foods and drinks without stirring using a stirring device.

  By using the quality improver of the present invention, it is possible to gelate without stirring using a stirrer and to impart gel properties to food and drink.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.
Xanthan gum used in the present invention is a polysaccharide produced by Xanthomonas campestris, and a side chain composed of D-mannose, D-glucuronic acid and D-mannose is bonded to the main chain skeleton of β-1,4-D-glucan. An anionic polysaccharide. The C6 position of D-mannose bonded to the main chain may be acetylated. The terminal D-mannose may be bound with pyruvate and acetal. A product extracted and dried from a culture solution of the microorganism is generally used, and the solution exhibits thixotropic properties. In the present invention, xanthan gum generally used in foods can be used, but those that have been further treated with a membrane, treated with an enzyme, and have increased transparency during dissolution can be preferably used.

  Glucomannan used in the present invention is a thickening polysaccharide contained in about 50% of a konjac koji rhizome powder (konjac flour) and solidifies when lime or the like is added. As the glucomannan used in the present invention, glucomannan extracted particularly from konjac flour can be used, but konjac flour containing glucomannan or a partially purified product thereof can also be used.

  The tara gum used in the present invention is a polysaccharide in which D-galactose is α-1,6-linked as a side chain to the main chain skeleton of β-1,4-D-mannan contained in the endosperm of legume cod. Although tara gum generally used in foods can be used in the present invention, a purified type with increased transparency during dissolution can be preferably used.

  The quality improver of the present invention is prepared by powder mixing xanthan gum, tara gum and glucomannan at a predetermined ratio. The mixing ratio of xanthan gum, tara gum and glucomannan is a ratio of 10 parts by weight or more of tara gum and 10 parts by weight or less of glucomannan with respect to 45 to 85 parts by weight of xanthan gum. The blending ratio of the quality improving agent with high chewing / swallowing suitability is determined by the fact that it takes time for gelation outside the above range and the convenience is lost, or the formed gel becomes soft or too hard. The

  The quality improving agent of this invention should just contain a xanthan gum, tara gum, and glucomannan, and may contain the other component.

  As other ingredients, as long as the effects of xanthan gum, tara gum and glucomannan are not impaired, other food additives, for example, sucrose fatty acid ester, glycerin fatty acid ester, polyglycerin fatty acid ester, organic acid monoglyceride, lecithin and other emulsifiers, Guar gum, locust bean gum, cassia gum, Guar gum enzymatic degradation product, psyllium seed gum, gum arabic, ι-carrageenan, λ-carrageenan, κ-carrageenan, alginic acid and alginates, alginate, LM and HM pectin, tamarind seed gum, acetyl Adipic acid crosslinked starch, acetylated phosphorylated crosslinked starch, acetylated oxidized starch, starch sodium octenyl succinate, starch acetate, oxidized starch, hydroxypropyl starch, hydroxypropyl Pyrylated phosphate cross-linked starch, phosphate monoesterified phosphate cross-linked starch, phosphorylated starch, phosphate cross-linked starch, sodium starch glycolate, starch phosphate sodium, ramzan gum, welan gum, curdlan, pullulan, far celerane, macrohomopsis Gum, soybean polysaccharide, native gellan gum, deacylated gellan gum, natto karaya gum, tragacanth gum, gati gum, microcrystalline cellulose, microfibrous cellulose, fermented cellulose, carboxymethylcellulose and its salts, methylcellulose, ethylmethylcellulose, hydroxypropylcellulose, Thickeners and gelling agents such as chitin and chitosan, amino acids such as agar, gelatin, sodium L-aspartate or salts thereof, 5′-inosinic acid dina Nucleic acids such as lithium or salts thereof, potassium chloride, monopotassium citrate, tripotassium citrate, DL-potassium hydrogen tartrate, potassium L-tartrate, potassium carbonate, tetrapotassium pyrophosphate, potassium polyphosphate, potassium metaphosphate, phosphorus Tripotassium acid, dipotassium hydrogen phosphate, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, potassium sulfate, potassium hydrogen sulfite, potassium gluconate, potassium L-glutamate, potassium acetate, potassium bromide, potassium bromate, potassium nitrate, and potassium sorbate and Potassium salts consisting of these hydrates, trisodium citrate, monosodium citrate, DL-sodium malate, sodium benzoate, sodium chloride, sodium gluconate, sodium L-glutamate, sodium acetate, sodium bromide, heavy Sodium carbonate , Potassium sodium tartrate, sodium hydrogen tartrate, DL-sodium tartrate, sodium L-tartrate, sodium nitrate, sodium carbonate, sodium lactate, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate, sodium fumarate, sodium polyphosphate, metalin Sodium phosphate, sodium bisulfite, sodium sulfate, disodium hydrogen phosphate, sodium dihydrogen phosphate, trisodium phosphate, disodium 5'-inosinate, disodium 5'-uridylate, disodium 5'-guanylate 5'-Cytidylate disodium and 5'-ribonucleotide disodium and sodium salts thereof, calcium lactate, calcium chloride, calcium citrate, calcium gluconate, L-glutamic acid calcium Calcium, calcium acetate, calcium oxide, uncalcined calcium, calcium hydroxide, calcium carbonate, calcium dihydrogen pyrophosphate, calcium sulfate, tricalcium phosphate, calcium monohydrogen phosphate, calcium dihydrogen phosphate, and 5'- Calcium salts consisting of ribonucleotide calcium and their hydrates, magnesium chloride, magnesium L-glutamate, magnesium oxide, magnesium carbonate, and magnesium salts consisting of magnesium sulfate and their hydrates, mustard extract, wasabi extract, And shelf life improvers such as kojic acid, enzymes such as α, β amylase, α, β glucosidase, papain, pH adjusters such as citric acid, fumaric acid, succinic acid, sucrose, fructose, reduced starch saccharified product, erythritol, Sugars such as xylitol and trehalose Sweeteners such as sucralose, thaumatin, acesulfame potassium, and aster palm, vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin K, minerals such as iron and calcium, and the like can be appropriately blended.

The quality improving agent of the present invention can be processed such as granulation in order to enhance the mixing and dispersibility in food and drink.
In the case of processing such as granulation, for example, xanthan gum, tara gum and glucomannan are powder-mixed, and the resulting mixture is mixed with any binder liquid (for example, water, dextrin solution, alcohol, gums and metal salts). And a method of granulating using a solution in which one or more selected ones are dissolved. The granulation method can be produced according to a conventional method, and a known method such as fluidized bed granulation, tumbling granulation or stirring granulation can be employed.

  The food and drink containing the quality improver of the present invention includes various calcium, vitamins, iron, minerals, micronutrients such as dietary fiber, powdered miso, powder sauce, bonito powder, skim milk powder, and powder potage. Any powdered seasoning, dried wakame or dried vegetable powder or small pieces, small solids such as finely crushed fish meat or meat product pieces, food flavors such as fruit flavors, milk flavors, etc. may be added as appropriate Good. These optional raw materials may be distributed after the food / beverage products containing the food quality improver are once produced, or may be distributed to the food / beverage products before processing.

  The method for adding the quality improver of the present invention to foods and drinks is not particularly limited, but a device such as a spoon or a spatula is added little by little to foods and drinks for the purpose of imparting high physical properties suitable for eating and swallowing. In the case of powdered foods such as powdered juice and powdered soup, a method of stirring and dispersing with water and hot water and then stirring and dispersing can be appropriately selected. The compounding quantity with respect to food-drinks of the quality improving agent in this invention is 0.1 to 10 weight%, Preferably it is 1 to 5 weight%.

By adding the quality improver of the present invention to a food or drink, there is an effect of imparting an appropriate unity and gelling property to the food or drink. Furthermore, by using xanthan gum, tara gum and glucomannan at a predetermined ratio, it will be possible to sufficiently exert its thickening and gelling function in foods and drinks, so that physical properties suitable for swallowing in a short time Can be arranged. Here, food properties suitable for swallowing are moderately soft (easy to deform), less sticky, moderately well-organized (not loose in the mouth), but only slightly increased in hardness, In many cases, even if only a small amount is given, the food intake and swallowing aptitude for those who take the food (patients, etc.) is improved.
EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although an Example and a comparative example are given and this invention is demonstrated concretely, this invention is not limited to these.

Example 1
Xanthan gum (manufactured by Taiyo Chemical Co., Ltd .: Neosoft XC), tara gum (manufactured by Taiyo Chemical Co., Ltd .: Neosoft T), glucomannan (manufactured by Taiyo Chemical Co., Ltd .: Neosoft A-18) And the dextrin was mixed and the food quality improving agent which is this invention product was prepared.

Comparative Example 1
In the same manner as in Example 1, according to the formulation in Table 2, xanthan gum, tara gum, glucomannan and dextrin were mixed to prepare a food quality improver as a comparative product.

Test example 1
6 g of the present invention products 1 to 7 and comparative products 1 to 10 prepared in Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 were each added to 200 g of green tea at 25 ° C., mixed by hand stirring for 30 seconds, and filled into a 60 ml plastic cup in a full amount. Thus, a gel-like or sol-like food was prepared.

  The obtained gel-like or sol-like food was taken out of the plastic cup and transferred to a dish, and the shape was visually observed and sensory evaluation of feeding / swallowing aptitude was performed.

The gelation property has five levels (1: liquid, 2: slightly liquid, 3: viscous paste, 4: weakly gelled), with 5 points indicating gelation and 1 point being liquid. 5: Gelation).
In addition, for those that show gelation, the time required for gelation is measured, and three stages (1: it takes 30 minutes or more to gel, gel within 2:30 minutes, within 3:10 minutes) Gelled).

Eating / swallowing aptitude was evaluated in 5 stages (1: bad, 2: somewhat bad, 3: slightly good, 4: good, 5: very good).
Also, there are 5 levels of stickiness on the oral cavity and pharynx (1: bad (more), 2: slightly worse (more), 3: slightly better (less), 4: good (less), 5: very good (less) )).
As a comprehensive evaluation, the total score of the gelation property, the time required for gelation, and the evaluation of the unity and stickiness was 14 points or more, and ○ was 13 points or less.
These evaluation results are shown in Tables 3 and 4.

  As is apparent from Tables 3 and 4, by using the food quality improver of the present invention for green tea, it is possible to prepare a gel food excellent in feeding and swallowing properties without using a stirrer. .

Example 2
Xanthan gum (manufactured by Taiyo Chemical Co., Ltd .: Neosoft XC), tara gum (manufactured by Taiyo Chemical Co., Ltd .: Neosoft T), glucomannan (manufactured by Taiyo Chemical Co., Ltd .: Neosoft A-18) , Guar gum (manufactured by Taiyo Kagaku Co., Ltd .: Neosoft G), locust bean gum (manufactured by Taiyo Kagaku Co., Ltd .: Neosoft L) and dextrin were mixed to prepare a food quality improver which is the product of the present invention.

Comparative Example 2
In the same manner as in Example 2, xanthan gum, tara gum, glucomannan, guar gum, locust bean gum and dextrin were mixed according to the formulation in Table 6 to prepare a food quality improver as a comparative product.

Test example 2
Inventive product 8 prepared in Example 2 and Comparative Example 2 and Comparative Products 11 to 196 g were each added to 200 g of orange juice at 15 ° C., mixed by hand stirring for 30 seconds, and filled into a 60 ml plastic cup in a full amount. A gel or sol food was prepared.

The obtained gel-like or sol-like food was taken out from the plastic cup, and in the same manner as in Test Example 1, visual observation of the shape and sensory evaluation of feeding / swallowing aptitude were performed.
The results are shown in Table 7 and Table 8.

  As apparent from Tables 7 and 8, by using the food quality improver of the present invention product in orange juice, it is possible to prepare a gel food excellent in feeding and swallowing properties without using a stirrer. it can.

Example 3
Xanthan gum (manufactured by Taiyo Chemical Co., Ltd .: Neosoft XC), tara gum (manufactured by Taiyo Chemical Co., Ltd .: Neosoft T), glucomannan (manufactured by Taiyo Chemical Co., Ltd .: Neosoft A-18) , Guar gum (manufactured by Taiyo Kagaku Co., Ltd .: Neosoft G), locust bean gum (manufactured by Taiyo Kagaku Co., Ltd .: Neosoft L) and dextrin were mixed to prepare a food quality improver which is the product of the present invention.

Comparative Example 3
In the same manner as in Example 3, xanthan gum, tara gum, glucomannan, guar gum, locust bean gum and dextrin were mixed according to the formulation shown in Table 10 to prepare a food quality improver as a comparative product.

Test example 3
After adding 4 g of the present invention product 9 and comparative products 20 to 284 prepared in Example 3 and Comparative Example 3 to 200 g of miso soup at 50 ° C., they are mixed by hand stirring for 30 seconds and filled into a 60 ml plastic cup in a full amount. A gel or sol food was prepared.

The obtained gel-like or sol-like food was taken out from the plastic cup, and in the same manner as in Test Example 1, visual observation of the shape and sensory evaluation of feeding / swallowing aptitude were performed.
The results are shown in Table 11 and Table 12.

  As is apparent from Tables 11 and 12, by using the food quality improver of the present invention product in miso soup, a gel food excellent in feeding and swallowing ability can be prepared without using a stirrer. .

  As described above, the food quality improver of the present invention makes it possible to provide a gel-like food excellent in feeding and swallowing properties that suppresses stickiness in patients with impaired mastication and swallowing functions. It ’s big.

Claims (2)

  A food quality improver that contains xanthan gum, tara gum, and glucomannan, and that imparts a gel property with high intake and swallowability to food and drink without stirring using a stirrer.   The food quality improver according to claim 1, wherein the main component is a mixture of 10% by weight or more of tara gum and 20% by weight or less of glucomannan with respect to 45 to 85 parts by weight of xanthan gum.