JP2012095645A - Gel-like nutritional food - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a high-protein and high-lipid gel-like nutritional food which is soft, has good mouth meltability, and hardly causes syneresis even when preserved for six months or more at normal temperature by mainly including gelatin.SOLUTION: The gel-like nutritional food includes: oils and fats; the gelatin; carrageenan; a casein salt; and an emulsifier. The mass ratio (gelatin/carrageenan) of gelatin to carrageenan is 10-25, and the mass ratio (casein salt/carrageenan) of casein salt to carrageenan is >25 and ≤100. The content of the carrageenan is ≥0.04 mass%.

Description

  The present invention relates to a gel-like nutritional food that enables a person with a reduced swallowing function to efficiently take proteins, lipids, and the like.

  Fats and oils are added to gelled foods such as jelly and pudding as foods that are easy to eat for those who are swallowed due to age, illness, etc., are high in lipid and protein content, and can consume energy efficiently. Mixed gel nutritional foods are used.

  Gels constituting such a gel-like nutritional food include gelatin-based ones and agar-based ones (Patent Document 1). Gelatin-based ones have gelatin-specific softness. Swallowing because it is easy to deform, it is difficult to produce food fragments that cause soreness in the oral cavity, and the melted liquid material works as a lubricating oil during swallowing because the gel surface starts to melt at body temperature It is especially suitable for people with difficulties.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-155433

  However, when a conventional gel-like nutritional food mainly composed of gelatin is stored at room temperature, the gel network cuts by hydrolysis over time, causing water separation, and the water causes throat and aspiration to those who have difficulty swallowing. For this reason, the conventional shelf life of gelatinous nutritional foods mainly composed of gelatin has a limit of about 4 months.

  Moreover, when the content of fats and oils such as fats and emulsified fats and oils is increased to 10 wt% or more as water-insoluble lipids in order to make gelatinous nutritional foods mainly composed of gelatin into high-calorie foods of 1 kcal / g or more, There is a problem that the formation of the network is easily inhibited by lipid formation, so that it is easy to release water, and if the protein content is increased to about 5 wt%, the gel is denatured and aggregated during heat sterilization and storage, which also facilitates water separation. There was a problem.

  On the other hand, the present invention provides a gel-like nutritional food of high protein and high lipid, which is mainly gelatin, is soft, melts well in the mouth, and does not easily release even after being stored at room temperature for 6 months or more. Objective.

  When the present inventors added carrageenan to a gelatin-based gel at a specific ratio, even if the content of lipid or protein is increased, hydrolysis that occurs over time when the gelatin gel is stored at room temperature is suppressed. The ability to significantly reduce water separation and the addition of carrageenan harden the gelatin gel and make it difficult to dissolve at body temperature.On the other hand, the addition of casein salt softens the gel and quickly deforms in the oral cavity. It was found that body temperature was transmitted efficiently and the solubility was maintained.

That is, the present invention contains fats and oils, gelatin, carrageenan, casein salt and emulsifier,
The mass ratio of gelatin and carrageenan (gelatin / carrageenan) is 10-25,
The mass ratio of casein salt to carrageenan (casein salt / carrageenan) is more than 25 and less than 100,
A gel-like nutritional food having a carrageenan content of 0.04% by mass or more is provided.

  Since the gel-like nutritional food of the present invention comprises a gel mainly composed of gelatin, it melts well in the mouth, and further contains carrageenan in a specific ratio, thereby improving the stability of the gel network over time. be able to. Therefore, even if the lipid content is increased, it becomes difficult to separate water. For example, even if the lipid content is increased so as to become a high calorie food of 1.6 kcal / g or more, water separation can be substantially performed for 6 months or more at room temperature. It can be stored without causing it. Moreover, the stability of the gel network is improved not only with lipids but also with the addition of proteins. Therefore, for example, a high-calorie food with a protein content of 0.05 g / g or more and a well-balanced blend of lipids and proteins can be obtained.

Furthermore, the gel-like nutritional food of the present invention softens the gel by containing the caseinate, and has the gel softness of gelatin even if it contains carrageenan, and the gel strength is 1000-15000 N / m ^2. It is stable in the range, and there is almost no change in physical properties during the storage period. Therefore, it is soft whenever it is eaten, it can be crushed with the tongue, and it can be easily swallowed with an adhesion of 1000 J / m ² or less.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail. In the present invention, “%” means “mass%” and “part” means “part by mass”. The description “A to B” in the numerical range means “A or more and B or less”.

  The present invention is a gel-like nutritional food containing fats and oils, gelatin, carrageenan, casein salt and an emulsifier, and the gel is mainly composed of gelatin. As a result, the gel-like nutritional food can be given the softness, ease of deformation, and mouth-melting sensation unique to gelatin gel. It becomes easy to swallow with the liquid material.

  Gelatin derived from any of cows, pigs, fish and the like may be used, but the molecular weight is 30000 to give gel-like nutritional food the softness, ease of deformation and mouth-melting feeling peculiar to gelatin gel. 100000 is preferred. In addition, it is not preferable to use a collagen peptide having a molecular weight of about 500 to 20000 instead of gelatin because it is difficult to form a gel.

  The content of gelatin in the gel nutritional food is preferably 0.5 to 5%, more preferably 0.5 to 1.3%.

  In the gel-like nutritional food of the present invention, carrageenan improves the time-dependent stability of a gel mainly composed of gelatin and suppresses water separation when stored at room temperature. Thereby, even if it preserve | saves at normal temperature for 6 months, it does not water substantially, but the problem of throat and aspiration by water separation can be eliminated.

  The carrageenan preferably contains both ι carrageenan and κ carrageenan from the viewpoint of water separation inhibition, and particularly preferably the mass ratio ι / κ of ι carrageenan and κ carrageenan is 0.5 or more and 6 or less.

  Regarding the content of carrageenan in the gel-like nutritional food, the mass ratio of gelatin and carrageenan is 10 to 25, preferably 14 to 20, and the carrageenan content is 0.04% or more, preferably 0.04 to 0.00. 1%, more preferably 0.04 to 0.07%. If the carrageenan content is too low, it will be difficult to effectively suppress hydrolysis over time when the gel mainly composed of gelatin is stored at room temperature. If the carrageenan content is too high, the flexibility of the gel will be poor. There may be cases where weaning increases, and physical properties that are difficult for swallowing may occur for those who have reduced swallowing function.

  Thus, even when carrageenan has a specific content, the gel added with carrageenan is harder than the gel formed only from gelatin, but the gel-like nutritional food of the present invention also contains casein salt, It has the characteristics of an original gelatin gel that has softness and ease of deformation, is unlikely to produce food fragments that cause soreness in the oral cavity, and melts at body temperature. Further, the inclusion of the casein salt increases the protein content of the gel-like nutritional food and makes it excellent in nutritional value. In this case, the taste of the gel nutritional food is not impaired. On the other hand, if collagen peptides, egg white peptides, skim milk powder or the like is used instead of casein salt, the gelatin gel containing carrageenan cannot be sufficiently softened. descend.

  In the present invention, the casein salt can be obtained by subjecting milk to a treatment for removing lipids, sugars and whey proteins, and more specifically, acid, enzyme, lactic acid bacteria, etc. are added to skim milk. After the casein is precipitated by separation, alkali such as sodium hydroxide, calcium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide is added to dissolve the casein and dried to produce sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, potassium caseinate, casein Examples thereof include magnesium.

  Among the casein salts, sodium caseinate is preferable because it has a high effect of forming a gel that is soft and hardly causes water separation.

  Regarding the content of the casein salt in the gel-like nutritional food, the mass ratio of casein salt to carrageenan (casein salt / carrageenan) is more than 25 to 100 or less, preferably 30 to 100, more preferably 30 to 65, and the casein salt itself The content of is preferably 1.5 to 3%. If the content of caseinate is too low, the gel will become hard, and it will be difficult for those with reduced swallowing function to swallow. On the other hand, if the content is too high, it will be difficult to maintain gel properties when gel-like nutritional foods are stored for a long period of time. .

  Examples of the fats and oils in the present invention include palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, rice oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, cacao butter, monkey butter, beef tallow, pork tallow , Various types of vegetable oils and animal fats such as milk fat, fish oil, whale oil, etc., and processed oils and fats subjected to one or more treatments selected from hydrogenation, fractionation and transesterification, and MCT (medium chain fatty acid triglyceride) In the product of the present invention, one or more selected from these can be used. Examples of the fats and oils include emulsified fats and oils such as margarine, butter, pure fresh cream, and compound cream, shortening, powdered fats and oils, and liquid oils. In the present invention, butter, margarine, fresh cream, It is preferable to use an emulsified oil such as a compound cream.

  The fats and oils are preferably contained in a form of lipids such that the nutritional food is preferably 1.6 kcal / g or more, more preferably 2 kcal / g or more, preferably 10% or more, more preferably 12% or more as a lipid. The On the other hand, when oils and fats are excessively contained, the texture becomes worse because separation or scorching occurs during sterilization. In addition, separation or scorching makes it easy for water to be removed, and a person with difficulty in swallowing easily causes throat or aspiration. Therefore, the content of fats and oils is preferably 25% or less as lipids. Examples of lipids include neutral fats, phospholipids, steroids, waxes, and fat-soluble vitamins, and the lipid content is based on nutrition labeling standards (April 24, 2003 Ministry of Health and Welfare Notification No. 176). ) It can be measured according to the method described in the third column of the appended table 2.

  In the present invention, the emulsifier stably emulsifies and disperses the above fats and oils and suppresses water separation. As the emulsifier, glycerin fatty acid ester, sucrose fatty acid ester, sorbitan fatty acid ester, polyglycerin fatty acid ester, lecithin and the like are preferably used. Moreover, it is preferable that content in the gel-like nutrient food shall be 0.05-5%.

  In addition to the above ingredients, the gel-like nutritional food of the present invention, if necessary, flavor materials such as cocoa, coffee and fruit juice, dairy products, soy protein, saccharides, sweeteners, dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, A fragrance | flavor, a pigment | dye, a pH adjuster, a phosphate, etc. can be contained.

  The gel-like nutritional food of the present invention can be produced by mixing the above-mentioned raw materials by a conventional method. When industrially mixing from raw materials to filling individual packages, for example, Stir mixing, homogenization, sterilization, homogenization, filling into a container, and cooling may be performed sequentially. In this case, from the viewpoint of more effectively suppressing water separation, it is preferable to perform homogenization under pressure and to perform sterilization by a direct sterilization method such as a steam injection method or a steam infusion method.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described based on examples.

Examples 1-13 and Comparative Examples 1-4
(1) Manufacture of gel-like nutritional foods Each raw material shown in Table 1 is put into a mixer, stirred and mixed, homogenized at a pressure of 10 MPa, and then sterilized at 142 ° C for 4 seconds with a steam injection type UHT sterilizer. After homogenization again at a pressure of 10 MPa, 500 mL of a rectangular paper container having a bottom area of 34.8 cm ² and a height of 14.5 cm was filled and cooled at 5 ° C. for 24 hours to produce a gel-like nutritional food. In addition, glycerin fatty acid ester was used as an emulsifier.

  Moreover, the calorie (kcal / g) per 1g of each gel-like nutritional food was computed from the raw material composition by following Formula.

  Protein content (g / g), lipid content (g / g), mass ratio of casein Na and carrageenan, mass ratio of gelatin and carrageenan, mass ratio of ι carrageenan and κ carrageenan (ι / κ) was also calculated. These values are shown in Table 1.

(2) Evaluation Each container-packed gel-like nutritional food obtained in (1) is used as a “pre-storage” sample, and after 6 months storage at 25 ° C. is used as a “post-storage” sample. The hardness and texture were evaluated as follows at a product temperature of 10 ° C.

(2-1) Water separation state From the time of filling into the paper container until immediately before the evaluation, each sample is left standing so that the surface (hereinafter referred to as the bottom portion) having a bottom area of 34.8 cm ² is the bottom, Just before opening, the container was gently laid down to open one side of the container adjacent to the bottom, and the bottom of each sample was observed. Here, when water separation occurs in the gel, water accumulates on the bottom surface side, and thus the gel on the bottom surface side exhibits a sense of transparency. Then, the part which shows this transparency was made into the water separation part, and the length of the water separation part from the bottom face part side end surface to the part without a feeling of transparency was evaluated in four steps on the basis of the following criteria. Note that if the sample is pasty at the time of this evaluation, it means that the sample could not maintain the gel state during the storage period, so it can be evaluated that the storage stability is inferior without evaluating the water separation state. .

Rank standard x: When water is separated in a large amount and the length of the water separation part is longer than 1 cm ○: When water is slightly separated and the length of the water separation part is 0.5 to 1 cm ◎: When there is substantially no water separation or when the surface is wet with water, and the length of the water separation part is less than 0.5 cm-: Since the part without transparency does not maintain the gel state, water separation When the interface with the part is unclear and cannot be measured

(2-2) Hardness Each sample was opened, the gel at the center of the paper container was filled into a container with a diameter of 40 mm and a height of 15 mm, and the sample was cut to a height of 15 mm according to the height of the container. Using a resin plunger with a diameter of 20 mm and a height of 8 mm, compress with a compression distance of 10 mm / sec and a clearance of 5 mm, and use a creep meter (RE-3305 RHEONER, manufactured by Yamaden Co., Ltd.) Was measured and evaluated in the following four stages.

Rank criteria ×: 15000 N / ^{m 2} when it is larger than ○: 10000 N / ^{m 2} or more 15000 N / ^{m 2} or less when ◎: 1000 N / ^{m 2} or more 10000 N / ^{m 2} less than in the case of -: sample the gel state If the hardness cannot be measured because it is not held

(2-3) Food texture Each sample having a product temperature of 10 ° C. was sampled, and the food texture was evaluated in four stages according to the following criteria.

Rank Criteria x: Elasticity, when crushing or pushing back when pressed with tongue, almost unmeltable ○: Soft but soft, when melted or crushing and melting when pressed with tongue ◎: Although slightly elastic If it is soft and melts when pressed with the tongue −: If the sample does not maintain a gel state (excluded from evaluation)

  From Table 1, the mass ratio of gelatin to carrageenan is in the range of 10 to 25, the mass ratio of casein salt to carrageenan is in the range of more than 25 and 100 or less, and the content of carrageenan is in the range of 0.04% or more. Nos. 1 to 13 show that water separation is suppressed not only before storage but also after storage, and the gel has a soft hardness and good texture. In contrast, Comparative Example 1 in which the gelatin content is low and the mass ratio of gelatin to carrageenan is 2, does not become a gel, and the content of carrageenan is as low as 0.03%, and this ratio is 33. In Comparative Examples 4 and 3 where water separation after storage was not suppressed, and because the content of carrageenan was relatively large, the weight ratio of casein salt and carrageenan was as low as 25, so that water separation after storage was suppressed. It can be seen that the texture is poor.

  Further, Examples 5 and 6 show that a gel with a casein salt content of 3% is more preferable than a gel with a casein salt content of 4% because water separation after storage is suppressed.

  Moreover, from Examples 1, 7, and 8, it is understood that it is preferable to use emulsified oils and fats as the fats and oils from the viewpoint of suppressing water separation after storage. In particular, in Example 1 using butter that is a water-in-oil type, water separation was further suppressed as compared to Example 7 using a fresh cream that was an oil-in-water type.

  From Examples 1, 9, and 10 it can be seen that the carrageenan preferably has a mass ratio of ι carrageenan to κ carrageenan of 6 or less.

  From Examples 1 and 11, it can be seen that if the content of fats and oils is large, the gel becomes soft immediately after production, and it becomes a more preferable food for those who have difficulty swallowing.

  The gel-like food of the present invention is well melted in the mouth and has good stability over time of the gel network, so that the lipid and protein are blended in a well-balanced manner without substantially causing water separation. It becomes a calorie food. Furthermore, although the gel is soft, it exhibits a stable gel strength, hardly changes in physical properties during the storage period, is soft whenever it is eaten, can be crushed with the tongue, and is easy to swallow. Therefore, it is useful as a nutritional food for those whose swallowing function is reduced due to aging or illness.

Claims (4)

Contains fats and oils, gelatin, carrageenan, caseinate and emulsifier,
The mass ratio of gelatin and carrageenan (gelatin / carrageenan) is 10-25,
The mass ratio of casein salt to carrageenan (casein salt / carrageenan) is more than 25 and less than 100,
A gel-like nutritional food having a carrageenan content of 0.04% by mass or more.   The gel-like nutritional food according to claim 1, wherein the mass ratio of casein salt to carrageenan (casein salt / carrageenan) is 30 to 100.   The gel-like nutritional food according to claim 1 or 2, wherein emulsified fats and oils are used as the fats and oils.   The gel-like nutritional food according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the casein salt content is 3% by mass or less.