JP2016026480A - Beverage composition - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a beverage composition that contains water insoluble glucosylceramide but suppresses aggregation or precipitation of glucosylceramide-containing particles even in an acidic region having a pH of 2.5-4.0, and has good stability.SOLUTION: The beverage composition contains glucosylceramide-containing particles and lecithin. The beverage composition has a glucosylceramide content of 1-10000 ppm, an average particle diameter of the glucosylceramide-containing particles of 200 nm or less, and a pH of 2.5-4.0. The lecithin mass content is 0.1-10 times the glucosylceramide mass content.SELECTED DRAWING: None

Description

  The present invention relates to a beverage composition.

Glucosylceramide is a glycosphingolipid, a component that is expected to activate the skin and have a cosmetic effect on the skin when taken orally, but is poorly soluble in water and contains a water-based aqueous solvent. It is difficult to apply.
As a skin activator for ingestion, a technique containing 40% by mass or more of acidic phospholipid has been proposed, and it is disclosed that glycosphingolipid can be used in combination with acidic phospholipid (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Further, as a dispersion composition that can stably contain oil-soluble ceramide at a high concentration, a method for producing a ceramide dispersion composition is proposed in which ceramide is finely dispersed by counterflow collision using a specific dispersant. (For example, refer to Patent Document 2).

  In recent years, beverages using carbonated beverages and citrus fruit juices containing citric acid such as lemons and grapefruits have attracted attention as beverages useful for beauty and health promotion, etc., for the purpose of improving the feeling of drinking. ing. In addition, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is used as a beverage stabilizer, and many of the beverages described above are acidic.

International Publication 2012/043780 Specification JP 2013-224314 A

The skin activator for oral intake described in Patent Document 1 is a solid oral preparation represented by a supplement containing a large amount of acidic phospholipid, and is not a beverage. The skin activator described in Patent Document 1 contains many acidic phospholipids and glycosphingolipids in a solid oral preparation, and in particular, glycosphingolipids are hardly soluble in water. There is room for improvement. When the absorbability of the active ingredient in the body is low, the expected skin activation effect may be difficult to obtain.
Moreover, although the dispersion composition described in Patent Document 2 is excellent in dispersion stability in the neutral region, it cannot maintain dispersion stability in the acidic region of pH 4.0 or lower, and may cause aggregation and precipitation of the dispersed phase. It became clear by examination of the present inventors.
In order to ingest glucosylceramide, which is hardly soluble in water, and to improve the absorption in the body to obtain an effective skin activation effect, the dispersed phase particles containing glucosylceramide even in the acidic region It is important that the diameter is kept small and that the dispersion stability of the dispersed phase is maintained.

  The present invention contains a glucosylceramide that is hardly soluble in water, and has a stable stability in which aggregation or precipitation of glucosylceramide-containing particles is suppressed even in an acidic region having a pH of 2.5 to 4.0. The purpose is to provide goods.

The present invention is as follows.
[1] A beverage composition comprising glucosylceramide-containing particles and lecithin, wherein the content of glucosylceramide in the beverage composition is 1 ppm or more and 10,000 ppm or less, and the pH is 2.5 to 4.0. Beverage composition.
[2] The beverage composition according to [1], wherein the glucosylceramide-containing particles have an average particle size of 200 nm or less.
[3] The beverage composition according to [1] or [2], wherein the glucosylceramide contains β-glucosylceramide.
[4] The beverage composition according to any one of [1] to [3], wherein the content of lecithin relative to glucosylceramide is in a range of 0.1 to 10 times by mass.

[5] The beverage composition according to any one of [1] to [4], wherein the lecithin contains lysolecithin.
[6] The beverage composition according to [5], wherein the lysolecithin content in all lecithin is 50% by mass or more.
[7] The beverage composition according to any one of [1] to [6], wherein the lecithin contains phosphatidic acid.
[8] The beverage composition according to [7], wherein the content of phosphatidic acid in the total amount of lecithin is 15% by mass or more.
[9] The beverage composition according to any one of [1] to [8], further comprising saponin.
[10] The beverage composition according to [9], wherein the saponin contains quillaja saponin or quillaja extract.
[11] The beverage composition according to any one of [1] to [10], further comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of citric acid, ascorbic acid, tartaric acid, and malic acid.
[12] At least one type of inclusion selected from the group consisting of the beverage composition according to any one of [1] to [11] and a polysaccharide, an oligosaccharide, a disaccharide, a monosaccharide, and a sugar alcohol. A powdery beverage composition comprising an agent.
[13] The beverage composition according to [12], which is diluted with a solvent containing water and used for drinking.

  According to the present invention, while containing glucosylceramide which is hardly soluble in water, aggregation or precipitation of a dispersed phase containing glucosylceramide is suppressed even in an acidic region having a pH of 2.5 to 4.0. Can provide a good beverage composition.

  The beverage composition of the present invention comprises glucosylceramide-containing particles and lecithin, the content of glucosylceramide in the beverage composition is 1 ppm or more and 10,000 ppm or less, and the pH is 2.5 to 4.0. It is a beverage composition.

In the beverage composition of the present invention, by containing lecithin, aggregation or precipitation of glucosylceramide-containing particles is suppressed, the stability of the composition is improved, and the pH of the composition is 2.5 to 4.0 acidic. Even in the case of the conditions, it is expected that it is excellent in stability under acidic conditions as compared with the case of using other known food dispersants such as polyglycerin fatty acid esters and sucrose fatty acid esters. Has an outside effect.
In particular, when phosphatidic acid is contained as lecithin, the particle stabilization effect is unexpectedly improved. This is presumably because phosphatidic acid has a phosphate group that can be dissociated even in an acidic state, and thus contributes more to maintaining the stability of dispersed particles in an acidic region. However, the present invention is not bound by the above specific theory.

  In the present invention, the stability of the beverage composition means that the turbidity of the composition caused by aggregation or precipitation of glucosylceramide-containing particles contained in the composition or phase separation due to precipitation is suppressed. This means that the change in the glucosylceramide-containing particles over time and the deterioration of the appearance of the composition due to the change in the particles are difficult to occur.

In this specification, the term “process” is not limited to an independent process, and is included in the term if the intended purpose of the process is achieved even when it cannot be clearly distinguished from other processes. .
In the present specification, “to” indicates a range including numerical values described before and after that as a minimum value and a maximum value, respectively.
In the present specification, the amount of each component in the composition means the total amount of the plurality of substances present in the composition unless there is a specific notice when there are a plurality of substances corresponding to each component in the composition. To do.
The present invention will be described below.

[Beverage composition]
The beverage composition of the present invention is a beverage composition containing glucosylceramide-containing particles and lecithin.
When the content of glucosylceramide in the beverage composition is 1 ppm or more and 10000 ppm or less on a mass basis, the effect of glucosylceramide when drinking is sufficiently obtained, and the dispersion stability is maintained in a good state.
Therefore, even when the pH of the composition is 2.5 to 4.0, aggregation and precipitation of fine dispersed particles containing glucosylceramide is suppressed, and the stability is maintained well.
The beverage composition of the present invention is a composition that takes the form of an oil-in-water dispersion in which glucosylceramide-containing particles are dispersed as an oil phase (dispersed phase) in an aqueous phase that is a continuous phase. In addition to glucosylceramide, the dispersed phase can contain other oil components as required.
In the beverage composition, lecithin may be contained in the dispersed phase or may be contained in the continuous phase.

[Glucosylceramide]
Glucosylceramide is a kind of sphingolipid and is a compound widely present in animals and plants.
Sphingolipids are lipids based on a ceramide skeleton in which a fatty acid is bonded to the amino group of a sphingoid base, which is a long-chain amino alcohol, and exist as membrane lipids in animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, etc. Yes. Ceramide constitutes a so-called hydrophobic group of sphingolipid, and various hydrophilic groups bind to it to form a complex lipid.
Complex lipids whose hydrophilic groups are sugars are called glycosphingolipids and are widely present in animals, plants, and fungi. A typical glycosphingolipid is cerebroside, which is a sugar ceramide in which a monosaccharide is bound to ceramide.
As a constituent sugar of cerebroside, saccharide ceramide derived from animals includes glucosyl ceramide in which glucose is bound to ceramide and galactosyl ceramide in which galactose is bound, whereas sugar ceramide derived from plants and fungi has an existing sugar. Among ceramides, most are β-glucosylceramides in which glucose is β-glucoside-bonded to ceramide.

The glucosylceramide in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is a compound included in glucosylceramide and can be used. Of these, β-glucosylceramide is preferable, and plant-derived β-glucosylceramide is more preferable.
In the present invention, since glucosylceramide is used in a beverage composition to be taken orally, it is preferable to use glucosylceramide separated and extracted from a plant. The reason why plant-derived β-glucosylceramide is more preferable is that glucosylceramide derived from animals and fungi has a risk of pathogenicity derived from animals and fungi, and therefore suitable for use in oral use. This is because the glucosylceramide derived from a plant has an advantage that it can be used efficiently because there is no concern about pathogenicity.

  The sphingoid base constituting the plant-derived β-glucosylceramide preferably used in the present invention has a dihydroxy type and a trihydroxy type, and each has a double bond at the 4-position and the 8-position. Therefore, the plant-derived β-glucosylceramide is a mixture of a plurality of types of glucosylceramides having a plurality of types of sphingoid bases. Furthermore, since the fatty acid as a hydrophobic group to be bonded to a plurality of types of sphingoid bases that β-glucosylceramide has is a 2-hydroxy acid having 14 to 26 carbon atoms, the combination of the sphingoid base and the fatty acid, β-glucosylceramide is a component in which several hundred kinds of glycosphingolipids are mixed.

As plant-derived β-glucosylceramide, glucosylceramide-containing raw materials currently on the market include glucosylceramide-containing raw materials derived from wheat, rice, corn, soybean, konjac, sugar beet, pineapple, and the like. The glucosylceramide contained in the glucosylceramide-containing raw material is similar in terms of components, and any of them can be used as the glucosylceramide in the present invention.
Although the reason is not clear, it is said that the in vivo absorbability of the plant-derived β-glucosylceramide increases as the degree of purification increases, that is, the β-glucosylceramide content in the glucosylceramide-containing raw material increases. Therefore, as β-glucosylceramide used in the present invention, it is preferable to use glucosylceramide obtained through a purification step in which the content of β-glucosylceramide in the raw material is 5% by mass or more. It is more preferable to use a highly purified product having a β-glucosylceramide content of 20% by mass or more, and even more preferable to use a high-purity product having a content of 50% by mass or more.

As the plant-derived β-glucosylceramide in the present invention, a commercially available product may be used.
Typical commercially available β-glucosylceramides derived from plants include phytoceramide, phytocera NW-10, phytoceramide L (trade name, Ichimaru Falcos Co., Ltd.), orizaceramide PT, orizaceramide WSP, orizaceramide L. , Orizaceramide PC8 (above, trade name, Oriza oil), Comesfingo glycolipid (trade name, Okayasu Co., Ltd.), corn ceramide ME-1, corn ceramide P10 (above, trade name, Sakai Oil Co., Ltd.) ), Nissan N Ceramide, Neo Liquid Ceramide N (above, trade name, NOF Corporation), NIPPON CERAMIDE RPS, NIPPON CERAMIDE RLG, NIPPON CERAMIDE CP (above, trade name, Nippon Flour Milling Co., Ltd.), Pine Cera powder ( Product name, Maruzen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.), Beat Ceramide EX-1 (Product name, Meiji Food Materia Co., Ltd.) The beet sugar Co.), konjac ceramide emulsion, konjac ceramide powder, konjac ceramide NWS (trade names, manufactured by Unitika Ltd. is), and the like.

As described above, glucosylceramide is a mixture containing various components. As a glucosylceramide, when using a commercial item, the drink composition of this invention may contain only one type of the commercial item of glucosylceramide, and may use 2 or more types together.
The glucosylceramide content in the beverage composition of the present invention is 1 ppm or more from the viewpoint that a cosmetic effect can be expected. Although there is no restriction | limiting in particular in an upper limit, From the relationship between an effect and cost, it is thought that it is appropriate that an upper limit shall be 10000 ppm. The glucosylceramide content in the beverage composition is preferably 5 ppm to 5000 ppm, more preferably 10 ppm to 2000 ppm.
The glucosylceramide content in the beverage composition can be measured by a conventional method. For example, the method described in “Ceramide Analysis Method for Foods” written by Tatsuya Sugawara, “Ceramide: Basics and Applications—” (2011, published by Food Chemistry Newspaper) edited by Ceramide Research Group can be used. Among the methods described above, it is particularly preferable to use high-performance liquid chromatography and to use a detector using an evaporative light scattering detection system (ELSD) as the detector.

〔lecithin〕
Lecithin chemically means phosphatidylcholine (PC), but industrially, it is used as the name of a lipid mixture mainly composed of various phospholipids. In the present invention, it is used in the latter sense. doing.
Typical phospholipids contained in lecithin in the present invention include phosphatidylcholine (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as PE), phosphatid. Diluinositol (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as PI), phosphatidic acid (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as PA), phosphatidylglycerin (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as PG) and the like. Any of these can be used as lecithin in the present invention.

Lecithin is a kind of glycerophospholipid and is present in all cells of natural animals and plants and is a major component of biological membranes. Therefore, it is possible to extract lecithin from any animal or plant, but industrially, lecithin obtained using soybean and egg yolk as a raw material is common. Hereinafter, the lecithin derived from soybean may be referred to as soybean lecithin, and the lecithin derived from egg yolk may be referred to as egg yolk lecithin.
Lecithin is often used as an emulsifier for foods and cosmetics because it is highly safe and has a good emulsifying power for producing an emulsion by dispersing oil in water. In pharmaceuticals, osmotic action that permeates and absorbs substances from the skin and mucous membranes is used, and it is used as a material for pharmaceutical liposomes, fat emulsions for intravenous injections, therapeutic agents for wrinkles and skin diseases. Soy lecithin is often used for food and cosmetics mainly from the viewpoint of cost.
As the lecithin used in the present invention, any animal or plant-derived lecithin including soybean lecithin and egg yolk lecithin can be used. Among them, plant-derived lecithin is preferable, and soybean lecithin is particularly preferable.

Soy lecithin is produced by drying and purifying oil cake produced as a by-product in the soybean oil refining process. Usually, paste-like lecithin having a phospholipid content of 70% by mass or less is lecithin containing about 30% by mass of crude soybean oil, but it is inexpensive, and paste-like lecithin is widely used as lecithin, particularly in the food field.
In recent years, due to the physiological activity of phospholipids themselves and the need for more advanced emulsifiers, techniques such as advanced purification, fractionation, and modification have been added to lecithin, and various lecithins with different performance and functions, such as advanced purification. Lecithin, fractionated lecithin, modified lecithin and the like have been prepared, and in the present invention, use of such highly purified lecithin and the like is preferable.
Highly purified lecithin is a lecithin that has been deoiled and pulverized from a paste-like lecithin using a solvent such as acetone, and is obtained by refining paste-like lecithin, and generally has a lecithin content of 90% by mass or more. Certain lecithins are referred to as highly purified lecithins.
Highly purified lecithin is also available as a commercial product. Examples of commercially available highly purified lecithin products include Phospholipon 20 (trade name, Lipoid), Recion P (trade name, Riken Vitamin), SLP White (trade name, Sakai Oil Co., Ltd.), Emmalmatic 300 (Trade name, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics) and the like are commercially available.
In addition to conventional purified lecithin, modified lecithins such as fractionated lecithins with increased PC content, enzymatically degraded (lyso) lecithins that have been made into single chains by enzymatic degradation, and hydrogenated lecithins that have undergone hydrogenation treatment are also available. It can be used as lecithin in the present invention. Examples of commercially available enzymatically decomposed (lyso) lecithin include SLP-white lyso (trade name, Sakai Oil Co., Ltd.) and lecithin PWL (trade name, J-Oil Mills).

  The fractionated lecithin is a lecithin obtained by utilizing the difference in solubility in various solvents from the above highly purified lecithin or increasing the content of a specific phospholipid by an operation such as distillation. Generally, lecithin with an increased PC content is used. And is marketed as fractionated lecithin. Examples of commercially available fractionated lecithin products with increased PC content include Phospholipon 50 (trade name, PC content 45%: mass basis, the same applies hereinafter), Phosphopon 85G (trade name, PC content 80% ), Phospholipon 90G (trade name, PC content 94%) (above, Lipoid Co., Ltd.), Emalmetic 900 (trade name, PC content 50%), Emalmatic 930 (trade name, PC content 95) %) (Above, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics), SLP-PC70, SLP-PC90 (above, trade name, Sakai Oil Co., Ltd.) and the like are commercially available.

The modified lecithin can be roughly classified into hydrogenated lecithin and enzymatically decomposed lecithin. Among these, hydrogenated lecithin is a lecithin obtained by converting a fatty acid polyenoic acid in a lecithin structure into a saturated fatty acid by performing a hydrogenation treatment in order to improve oxidation or photostability. Modified lecithin is preferably used for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, and can also be preferably used for the beverage composition of the present invention.
On the other hand, enzyme-decomposed lecithin is lecithin obtained by selectively degrading the ester bond of the fatty acid at the 2-position, which is usually bonded to glycerin, with an enzyme, and is sometimes referred to as type I. Enzymolytic lecithin is called lysolecithin to distinguish it from normal lecithin. Lysolecithin is more water-soluble and generally has better emulsifying power than the original, ie, lecithin before enzymatic degradation.
The beverage composition of the present invention can contain lysolecithin. When the beverage composition contains lysolecithin, 50% by mass or more of lysolecithin can be contained in the total lecithin.

As another enzymatically decomposed lecithin, a lecithin that breaks the ester bond between phosphate and base has also been made. Lecithin obtained by enzymatic degradation of the ester bond between phosphoric acid and base may be referred to as type II. By performing a decomposition treatment with an enzyme, the base is removed from the phospholipid to form phosphatidic acid (PA). Examples of this type of enzyme-treated lecithin include commercially available PA Nagase (trade name, Nagase ChemteX Corporation), DPPA-Na (trade name, Lipoid), DSPA-Na (trade name, Lipoid), and the like. ing.
In the present invention, any of the above lecithins can be used. From the viewpoint of transparency of the dispersion, lecithin having a phospholipid content of 50% by mass or more is preferable, lecithin having a phospholipid content of 70% by mass or more is more preferable, and lecithin having a phospholipid content of 90% by mass or more is preferable. Further preferred.

The content of phosphatidic acid (PA) in the phospholipid in lecithin varies depending on the purification method, but the content of PA in the normal high-purity soybean lecithin is in the range of 5% by mass to 15% by mass. In the present invention, it is preferable to use lecithin containing PA from the viewpoint of further improving the stability of the dispersed particles.
The lecithin containing PA is preferably lecithin prepared by adjusting the PA content in lecithin to 15% by mass or more, more preferably lecithin adjusted to 20% by mass or more, and further preferably lecithin adjusted to 40% by mass or more. The high PA content lecithin having a PA content of 10% by mass or more, more preferably 20% by mass or more may be a lecithin obtained in the lecithin purification process, or a normal low PA content lecithin, It may be a high PA content lecithin obtained by mixing PA produced by the above-described type II enzymatic degradation treatment at the time of preparing dispersed particles.

In the beverage composition of the present invention, only one type of lecithin may be used, or two or more types may be used in combination.
The content of lecithin with respect to glucosylceramide in the beverage composition is preferably 0.1 times to 10 times the amount of glucosylceramide on a mass basis, and is 0.2 from the viewpoint of further improving dispersion stability. It is more preferably a double amount to a 5-fold amount, and further preferably a 0.3-fold amount to a 3-fold amount.

(PH of beverage composition)
From the viewpoint of flavor and antiseptic properties, the beverage composition of the present invention has a pH range of 2.5 to 4.0 when the temperature of the beverage composition is 25 ° C.
If the pH of the beverage composition is 2.5 or less, the acidity is too strong, and there is a concern about the influence on the skin and teeth, and this is not preferable because the risk of dental caries increases particularly when drinking. Moreover, when pH is 4.0 or more, the risk of decay and mold | fungi generation | occurrence | production when a drink composition is stored for a long term increases. Although it is possible to prevent spoilage and mold by containing a preservative or a fungicide, it is not preferable to use a preservative or a fungicide in foods and beverages from the viewpoint of consumer preference. Furthermore, in the case of a beverage composition having a pH exceeding 4.0, a stronger heat treatment is required in the production process according to the Food Sanitation Law, and depending on the type of components contained in the beverage, the flavor may be impaired, Tends to deteriorate. Also from such a viewpoint, it is important that the pH of the beverage composition is in the range of 2.5 to 4.0.

Furthermore, since there exists a tendency which can suppress the increase in the quantity of the sour agent used in the case of pH adjustment by making pH of a drink composition 3.0 or more, pH of a drink composition is 3.0-4. 0 is preferable, and the pH is more preferably 3.4 to 4.0.
The pH of the beverage composition can be measured with a general-purpose pH meter. In this invention, the value measured at 25 degreeC is employ | adopted using the Toa DK company, HM-25R type (brand name).

The method of adjusting the pH of the beverage composition to the range of 2.5 to 4.0 is arbitrary, and can be appropriately adjusted by selecting the type and amount of the components contained in the beverage composition.
Examples of the method for adjusting the pH of the beverage composition to a range of 2.5 to 4.0 include a method using a pH adjuster that can be used for food and drink.
There is no restriction | limiting in particular if it is a pH adjuster which can be used as food-drinks as a pH adjuster, A well-known pH adjuster can be used. Examples of the pH adjuster that can be used in the present invention include citric acid, ascorbic acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, lactic acid, phytic acid, gluconic acid, phosphoric acid, succinic acid, and fumaric acid.
Since the aforementioned pH adjuster that can be used as a food or drink has a function as a sour agent, in addition to adjusting the pH of the beverage composition, it has a masking effect on the smell and taste of plant-derived lecithin and glucosylceramide. Have.
From such a viewpoint, a sufficient masking effect for the components contained in the beverage composition is obtained, and a pH adjuster that can easily adjust the pH of the beverage to a range of 2.5 to 4.0 is used. It is preferable.
The preferred pH adjuster includes at least one selected from the group consisting of citric acid, ascorbic acid, tartaric acid, and malic acid from the viewpoint of realizing not only a pH adjusting function but also a good masking effect and a preferable flavor. It is done.

In the beverage composition of the present invention, the pH adjuster may be used alone or in combination of two or more.
The concentration of the pH adjusting agent in the beverage composition can be appropriately set in order to adjust the pH of the beverage composition to a desired value. Generally, the concentration of the pH adjuster in the beverage is preferably 100 mg / 50 mL to 2000 mg / 50 mL. If the concentration of the sour agent is 100 mg / 50 mL or more, a sufficient masking effect can be obtained, and if it is 2000 mg / 50 mL or less, the possibility of feeling sour stimulation is low.

[Other ingredients]
In addition to the glucosylceramide, lecithin and the pH adjuster used as required, the beverage composition of the present invention may contain additives that can be used for food and drink as long as the effects of the present invention are not impaired. Can be contained.

(saponin)
The beverage composition of the present invention can contain saponin.
Saponins are present in many plants and are mainly oligosaccharides of triterpenoids and steroids, and are compounds in which sugars are bound to 1 to 3 sites of sapogenol (aglycone).
In general, many saponins exhibit surface activity and are sometimes used as cleaning agents or foaming agents. In addition, there are saponins having anti-inflammatory action, expectorant action, and antibacterial action, and saponins are sometimes used in anticipation of effects such as anti-inflammatory action.
Saponins are contained in seeds, roots, stems (bark), leaves, and the like in plants, and are useful for preventing moisture scattering, insect protection, and nutrient storage in tissues.
Saponins are roughly classified into triterpenoid saponins and steroid saponins. The triterpenoid saponin is a component contained in plants such as Oleaceae, Rubiaceae, Egoniaceae, Primroseaceae, Argiaceae, Camelliaaceae, Mukurodidae, Tochinoaceae, Scorpionaceae, Legumeaceae, Rosaceae, Rubiaceae. Examples of commercially available raw materials for triterpenoid saponins include ginseng saponins from the family Araceae, tea saponins from the camellia family, soyasaponins from the legume family, licorice from the legume family, and quillaja saponins from the rose family.
Steroid saponins are known to be components contained in plants such as scorpionaceae, solanaceae, genus genus, antaceae, lily, coconut, and agave. Commercial raw materials for steroid saponins include yucca saponins from the agave family.

Examples of the saponin used in the present invention include soybean saponin, yucca saponin, carrot saponin, and quillaja saponin. As commercial products of saponin, soybean saponin (trade name, Tama Biochemical Co., Ltd.), Yuccara saponin 80-M (trade name, Mitsuba Trading Co., Ltd .: Yucca saponin), ginseng saponin (trade name, Kotobuki product ( Co.), JQL (trade name, Mitsuba Trading Co., Ltd .: Kirayasaponin).
Among them, Kirayasaponin is contained in the bark of the rose family plant, Sovonoki, from South America. Food grade products have been developed in the United States and sold in Japan. The structure of Quillajasaponin is characterized by high water-solubility, with the triterpene quillaic acid as a hydrophobic group and oligosaccharides (tetrasaccharide and trisaccharide) bonded to both ends.
Quillaja saponin may be included in the beverage composition as a quinaya saponin alone or in the form of an extract of kiraya saponin. Examples of the Quillaja extract include an extract extracted from a dried bark of Quillaja saponaria Moina using hot water as a solvent.

Little is known about emulsification, dispersion and dispersion stabilization by saponins. However, Kirayasaponin is known to be used as a foaming agent for foods and a solubilizing agent for oily components.
The present inventors have found that the storage stability of a glucosylceramide-containing beverage becomes extremely high by using Quillaja saponin and lecithin together.

As content of saponin in case the drink composition of this invention contains saponin, 10 mass%-500 mass% are preferable with respect to a lecithin, and 50 mass%-200 mass% are more preferable.
As lecithin used in combination with saponin, high-purity lecithin is preferable, and enzyme-treated high-purity lysolecithin is particularly more preferable.
Saponin may be added to the aqueous phase or oil phase when glucosylceramide is dispersed, or may be added when preparing the beverage composition.

(Other additive components)
The beverage composition of the present invention can contain at least one selected from collagen and collagen peptides as ingredients for enhancing the cosmetic effect.
Collagen peptide is a component obtained by hydrolyzing gelatin with an enzyme or acid, is a protein containing a large amount of glycine, and is also available as a commercial product.
The collagen may be collagen extracted from a collagen tissue of mammals, or may be collagen extracted from a collagen tissue of fish, and is not particularly limited. In recent years, collagen derived from fish is preferable from the viewpoints of product image and safety.

The beverage composition of the present invention can contain at least one amino acid selected from the group consisting of lysine, proline and ornithine.
Lysine, proline and ornithine, which are types of amino acids, are known as collagen components or collagen synthesis promoting components, and by containing these amino acids in the beverage composition of the present invention, the production efficiency of collagen in the body It is expected that the utilization efficiency will be further increased.

The beverage composition of the present invention preferably contains at least one selected from the group consisting of high-intensity sweeteners and sweeteners other than high-intensity sweeteners in order to adjust to a preferred flavor.
The high-intensity sweetener is a general term for a synthetic sweetener or a natural sweetener having a sweetness several tens to several thousand times that of sugar. Examples of high-intensity sweeteners are not limited as long as the flavor can be preferably adjusted, but in the present invention, aspartame, thaumatin, stevia, sucralose, or acesulfame potassium can be preferably used, and further, acesulfame potassium, or Sucralose is preferred.
A high-intensity sweetener may be used individually by 1 type, and may be used in combination of 2 or more type.

Examples of sweeteners other than high-intensity sweeteners include saccharides, sugar alcohols and powdered sugar.
Examples of the saccharide include monosaccharides such as glucose, fructose, galactose and isomerized sugar; disaccharides such as sugar, lactose and palatinose; oligosaccharides such as fructooligosaccharide, isomaltoligosaccharide and galactooligosaccharide.
Examples of sugar alcohols include monosaccharide alcohols such as erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol, and mannitol; disaccharide alcohols such as maltitol, isomaltitol, and lactitol; trisaccharide alcohols such as maltotriitol, isomaltitol, and panitol A tetrasaccharide or higher alcohol such as oligosaccharide alcohol; a sugar alcohol such as powdered reduced maltose starch syrup.
As the sweetener, glucose, powdered sugar, erythritol, xylitol, and sorbitol are more preferable, and erythritol is most preferable. When a sweetener is used in the beverage composition of the present invention, one sweetener may be used alone, or two or more sweeteners may be used in combination.

The beverage composition of the present invention can further contain a fragrance in order to adjust the flavor.
As the fragrance, at least one fragrance selected from the group consisting of yogurt, litchi, peach, mango, pineapple, raspberry, blueberry, cranberry, and pair is preferred.

The beverage composition of the present invention may contain a functional oily component.
A functional oily component means an oily component that, when applied to a living body, can be expected to induce a predetermined physiological effect in the applied living body.
Examples of functional oil components include carotenoids such as β-carotene, astaxanthin, lutein, lycopene; linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), squalene, squalane, fish oils containing these, etc. Unsaturated fatty acid; coenzyme Q10 and the like.
The beverage composition of the present invention may contain other additive components. Examples of other additive components include various vitamins, minerals, colorants, antioxidants, stabilizers, preservatives, emulsifiers, and antifoaming agents.

(Viscosity of beverage composition)
The viscosity of the beverage composition of the present invention is preferably in the range of 5 mPa · s to 35 mPa · s at room temperature (25 ° C.), and in the range of 10 mPa · s to 50 mPa · s at 4 ° C. preferable.
It is preferable that the viscosity of the beverage composition is in the above range, so that a good texture can be realized even when drinking at room temperature or when refrigerated.
By setting the viscosity to 5 mPa · s or more at room temperature or 10 mPa · s or more at 4 ° C., the viscosity does not become excessively low, and the viscosity tends to provide sufficient satisfaction as a texture when drunk. In addition, when the viscosity is 35 mPa · s or less at room temperature or 50 mPa · s or less at 4 ° C., the viscosity tends to be easy to drink.
That is, there exists a tendency which can implement | achieve the favorable texture as a drink composition by making the viscosity of a drink composition in the said range.

(Method for producing beverage composition)
The beverage composition of the present invention takes the form of a dispersion composition in which glucosylceramide-containing particles are dispersed in a continuous phase that is an aqueous phase. Hereinafter, as an example of a method for preparing a beverage composition, an example of a method for preparing a beverage composition containing dispersed particles having an average particle size of 200 nm or less as glucosylceramide-containing particles will be described.

Glucosylceramide and lecithin are added and mixed in an aqueous phase containing water, and then heated to 40 ° C. to 90 ° C. and mixed while maintaining the temperature to prepare a uniform suspension.
Any commercially available mixing means may be used in the suspension preparation process by mixing. That is, glucosylceramide and lecithin, at least as an aqueous phase that is at least a continuous phase, are appropriately selected from mixing means such as a magnetic stirrer, a household mixer, a paddle mixer, and an impeller mixer, which are known mixing means. A uniform suspension containing a large amount of water can be prepared. The uniform suspension at this stage may be a suspension having such a degree of uniformity that visual phase separation is not observed immediately after stirring.

  After preparing a uniform suspension, the resulting suspension is suspended using a mechanical dispersion means having a strong shearing force, that is, a homomixer, a dispermixer, an ultramixer, etc. It is preferable to make the dispersed particles in the liquid finer. For finer dispersion particles, the high-speed stirring method using the mechanical dispersion means having a strong shearing force, the ultrasonic method using an ultrasonic homogenizer, the high-pressure homogenizer method using a high-pressure homogenizer, and the like are used. It is preferable to use a finer means. As a method for imparting a high shearing force, only one of the above-described methods may be used, and two or more methods may be used simultaneously or sequentially in combination.

  Examples of ultrasonic homogenizers that can be used for the refinement of dispersed particles include ultrasonic homogenizers US-600, US-1200T, RUS-1200T, MUS-1200T (above, trade names, Nippon Seiki Seisakusho), ultrasonic Processor UIP-2000, UIP-4000, UIP-8000, UIP-16000 (above, trade name, Heelscher) and the like. Ultrasonic waves in an ultrasonic homogenizer, an ultrasonic processor or the like are preferably used at a frequency of 25 kHz or less, more preferably 15 to 20 kHz.

Examples of high-pressure homogenizers that can be used to refine dispersed particles include Microfluidizer (trade name, Microfluidics), Nanomizer (trade name, Yoshida Kikai Kogyo Co., Ltd.), Starburst (trade name, Co., Ltd.) Sugino machine), Gorin type homogenizer (trade name, APV), Lanier type homogenizer (trade name, Lanier), High pressure homogenizer (trade name, Niro Soavi), Homogenizer (trade name, Sanwa Machinery Co., Ltd.) , High-pressure homogenizer (trade name, Izumi Food Machinery Co., Ltd.), ultra-high pressure homogenizer (trade name, squid company) and the like.
The operating pressure of the high-pressure homogenizer is preferably 50 MPa or more, more preferably 150 MPa or more, from the viewpoint that the dispersed particles can be refined more efficiently. Further, the number of passes of the high-pressure treatment may be one, but in order to improve the uniformity of the entire liquid, it is preferably 2 times or more, more preferably 2 to 5 times.

The temperature of the suspension before the high-pressure dispersion treatment is preferably set to 20 ° C to 80 ° C, more preferably 40 ° C to 70 ° C.
Immediately after the high-pressure dispersion treatment, it is preferable that the dispersion is rapidly cooled using a cooling means and lowered to a predetermined temperature, for example, 4 ° C to 40 ° C. Any commercially available heat exchanger can be used as the cooling device.

Considering the blending concentration of glucosylceramide in the final beverage composition, the dispersion containing glucosylceramide-containing particles is usually 10 to 1000 times the concentration of glucosylceramide-containing particles relative to the final beverage composition. It is preferable to prepare in the range.
Moreover, although the pH of the dispersion before dilution for application to a beverage composition is arbitrary, the dispersion is diluted by setting the pH before dilution within the range of 2.5 to 8.0. When preparing the composition, the pH of the beverage composition can be easily set to 2.5 to 4.0.
When preparing a beverage composition by diluting a dispersion containing the glucosylceramide-containing particles obtained in this way at a high concentration, the pH of the beverage composition is determined by the method described above, for example, a method of adding a pH adjuster. Is preferably adjusted between 2.5 and 4.0.
In addition, in the dispersion for preparing a beverage composition, in order to maintain dispersibility and dispersion stability of glucosylceramide-containing particles, etc., polyhydric alcohols such as glycerin, gums such as gum arabic, guar gum, and gutti gum, dextrin Polysaccharides such as cyclodextrin, cluster dextrin and inulin, proteins such as gelatin, albumin and casein, polyvinyl alcohol, cellulose, cellulose derivatives and the like.

(Grain size of glucosylceramide-containing particles)
The particle size of the glucosylceramide-containing particles contained in the beverage composition of the present invention is not particularly limited, but is preferably 200 nm or less, more preferably 5 nm to 150 nm, and even better transparency and stability. In view of the above, the thickness is more preferably 10 nm to 100 nm.
The average particle diameter (volume average particle diameter) of the glucosylceramide-containing particles in the beverage composition of the present invention can be measured with a commercially available particle size distribution meter or the like.
The particle size distribution measurement method for glucosylceramide-containing particles includes optical microscopy, confocal laser microscopy, electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, static light scattering, laser diffraction, dynamic light scattering, and centrifugal sedimentation. Methods, electric pulse measurement methods, chromatography methods, ultrasonic attenuation methods, and the like are known, and devices corresponding to the respective principles are commercially available.
The particle size of the glucosylceramide-containing particles in the present invention can be measured with the above-mentioned commercially available particle size distribution meter or the like.
From the particle size range of the glucosylceramide-containing particles contained in the beverage composition of the present invention and the ease of measurement, the particle size measurement of the glucosylceramide-containing particles in the beverage composition of the present invention can be performed by a dynamic light scattering method. preferable. As a commercially available measuring device using the dynamic light scattering method, Nanotrac UPA (trade name, Nikkiso Co., Ltd.), dynamic light scattering particle size distribution measuring device LB-550 (trade name, HORIBA, Ltd.) ), And a thick particle size analyzer FPAR-1000 (trade name, Otsuka Electronics Co., Ltd.).
The average particle size of the glucosylceramide-containing particles in the present invention is determined by using Nikkiso Co., Ltd., Nanotrac UPA-EX150 (trade name), and placing the undiluted beverage composition directly into a sample cell in the apparatus at 25 ° C. The value measured in is adopted. The average particle diameter was evaluated by the volume average particle diameter Mv.

  When the particle size is 200 nm or less, the beverage composition of the present invention has a stable presence of glucosylceramide-containing particles, is excellent in appearance, and is excellent in oral absorption of glucosylceramide. It becomes a composition.

  The form of the beverage composition of the present invention can be applied to known beverages such as nutritional drinks, beauty drinks, nourishing tonics, and palatable beverages without particular limitation.

Moreover, the drink composition of this invention is applicable to the form of a carbonated drink.
Production methods of carbonated beverages are roughly classified into a postmix method and a premix method.
In the post-mix method, a prepared syrup solution in which sour agents, sweeteners, flavors and functional ingredients are mixed in water is poured into a container, and then filled with cooled carbonated water, and then immediately stoppered or capped, A carbonated beverage is obtained by mixing the lower syrup solution and the upper carbonated water.
In contrast, in the premix method, the above prepared syrup solution and water are mixed at a constant ratio, and then carbon dioxide gas is injected while cooling the obtained mixed solution. The mixed solution into which carbon dioxide gas is injected is sent to a filling machine, filled into a container with a filling machine, and the container is sealed and sealed with a stopper or a capper to obtain a carbonated beverage.
In any case, carbonated beverages may deteriorate when oxygen is mixed therein. Further, in order to stably perform carbon dioxide injection, it is necessary to remove oxygen from the water to be used in advance by deaeration treatment.
When the beverage composition of the present invention is applied to the form of a carbonated beverage, it can be easily prepared by adding the beverage composition as a functional component to the above-described blended syrup solution.
Moreover, when the drink composition of this invention is made into the form of carbonated drink, the container of carbonated drink can use a well-known container. The form of the container may be, for example, a glass bottle, a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle with reduced gas permeability, or an aluminum can.

[Powdered beverage composition]
The beverage composition of the present invention can be provided in a liquid state, but can be in the form of a powdered beverage composition as necessary.
By making the beverage composition into a powder form, storage stability and transportability are further improved. Moreover, a liquid drink composition can be easily prepared by redispersing in solvents, such as water, as needed.
When selling a beverage composition containing glucosylceramide-containing particles in a cup-type vending machine or the like, a powdered beverage composition for preparing a liquid beverage composition by mixing with a solvent when necessary Use is also a preferred embodiment.

(Packaging agent)
In order to make the beverage composition of the present invention into a powdery beverage composition, the liquid beverage composition, which is a dispersion containing glucosylceramide-containing particles, may be dried by a drying means to be powdered.
In order to prevent aggregation of the glucosylceramide-containing particles in the powdering process, it is preferable to take a means for drying the mixture containing the beverage composition of the present invention and the packaging agent during powdering. In the present invention, the inclusion means a state of being attached or wrapped, and in the mixture containing the beverage composition of the present invention and the inclusion agent, the component of the beverage composition adheres to the inclusion agent or is included. It will be in the state of being wrapped in the agent.
Examples of the packaging agent include saccharides selected from polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, disaccharides, and monosaccharides, sugar alcohols, crystalline cellulose, gums, proteins, and the like. Therefore, at least one packaging agent selected from the group consisting of polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and sugar alcohols is preferred, and saccharides are more preferred.

  Examples of the saccharide that is a packaging agent preferably used in the present invention include dextrin, cyclodextrin, cluster dextrin, inulin, raffinose, stachyose, velpas course, trehalose, sucrose, maltose, and the like. Inulin, raffinose, and trehalose are preferable from the viewpoint of transparency and availability, and inulin and trehalose are more preferable from the viewpoint of yield at the time of drying.

Inulin used as a packing agent in the present invention is a fructose polymer or fructose oligomer having one glucose at the end. Inulin is widely known to exist in nature, and is abundant in chicory, Jerusalem artichoke, dahlia, garlic, leek, onion, agave and the like. Generally, the chain length is expressed with G as the glucose unit and F as the fructose unit. The inulin of the present invention does not include sucrose represented by GF. Inulin, which is usually extracted from nature, is a polymer or oligomer ranging from GF2 (kestose), GF3 (nystose), GF4 (fructosylnystose) to about GF60, or a mixture thereof.
The inulin that can be used in the present invention may include inulin that has been separated and extracted from hot roots such as chicory, Jerusalem artichoke, and dahlia, concentrated, and powdered by spray drying. Examples of commercially available inulin include Frutafit (trade name, SENSUS) extracted from chicory root, Beneo (trade name, Olafti), also extracted from chicory root, and dahlia root-derived inulin reagent (Japanese) Photopure Pharmaceutical Industry Co., Ltd.), chicory root extraction inulin reagent (Sigma Aldrich) and the like.
The inulin in the present invention can include inulin prepared from sucrose (sucrose) by utilizing the fructan transfer activity of β-fructofuranosidase. Examples of inulin prepared from sucrose include Fuji FF (trade name, Fuji Nippon Seika Co., Ltd.) and GF2 (trade name, Meiji Seika Co., Ltd.).

Raffinose that can be used as a packing agent in the present invention is a trisaccharide containing one unit of D-galactose, D-glucose and D-fructose. Raffinose is widely known to exist in nature, and is relatively contained in beets, eucalyptus sap, soybeans, cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, and the like. In the present invention, raffinose may be separated from beet or the like and extracted with hot water, and the raffinose sold by concentrating the extract and pulverizing it by spray drying may be included. As an example of raffinose sold in powder form, raffinose (trade name, Nippon Sugar Sugar Co., Ltd.) can be mentioned.
Stachyose that can be used as a packing agent in the present invention is a tetrasaccharide in which D-fructose, D-galactose, D-galactose, and D-glucose are linked, and there are relatively many naturally occurring beans such as soybeans and cucurbitaceous plants. included. Examples of sales of stachyose include SFS oligosaccharide (trade name, Goryu Honpo).
Belpasose that can be used as a packing agent in the present invention is a pentasaccharide arranged in the order of D-galactose, D-galactose, D-galactose, D-glucose, D-fructose, and is included in beans such as broad beans. Like raffinose, stachyose and velpas course are extracted from plants with hot water, and the extract is concentrated and powdered by spray drying.

  In addition, trehalose used as a packaging agent in the present invention is, for example, a method of culturing yeast in a glucose solution to produce trehalose in yeast cells, and separating the obtained trehalose from the cells, or in a glucose solution. Bacteria are cultivated, trehalose is produced in the culture solution, and the obtained trehalose is separated from the culture solution by the Hof method or the like. As trehalose, trehalose commercially available from Hayashibara Co., Ltd. can be used.

Only 1 type may be used as a packing agent used when powdering the drink composition of this invention, and 2 or more types may be used together. When saccharides are used as the packaging agent, it is also preferable to use a mixture of two or more saccharides. When two or more saccharides are used, the two or more saccharides can be used in any ratio.
In the present invention, the packaging agent used for pulverizing the beverage composition is preferably used in a range of 0.5 to 10 times by mass based on the total solid content in the beverage composition. More preferably, it is used in an amount in the range of 5 to 5 times.

(Drying method)
When the beverage composition containing the glucosylceramide of the present invention is in the form of a powder composition, a step of adding a packaging agent to the beverage composition and drying it by a drying means such as spray drying may be performed.
As the drying means, known drying means can be used, and examples thereof include natural drying, heat drying, hot air drying, high frequency drying, ultrasonic drying, reduced pressure drying, vacuum drying, freeze drying, and spray drying. Although a drying means may be used independently, it can also be used in combination of 2 or more types.

As the drying means, lyophilization in which water is removed by sublimating ice from a frozen material is preferable.
Examples of commercially available freeze dryers that can be used for freeze drying include freeze dryer VD-800F (trade name, Taitec Co., Ltd.), Flexi Dry MP (trade name, FTS Systems), Duratop Durastop ( Product name, FTS Systems Co., Ltd.), Takara Vacuum Freeze Dryer Type A (trade name, Takara ETM Co., Ltd.), Desktop Freeze Dryer FD-1000 (trade name, Tokyo Rika Kikai Co., Ltd.), Vacuum Freeze Dryer FD -550 (trade name, Tokyo Rika Kikai Co., Ltd.), vacuum freeze dryer (trade name, Takara Seisakusho Co., Ltd.), and the like.

As a drying means, the spray drying method is also a preferable means from the viewpoint of achieving both production efficiency and quality. When the spray drying method is applied to the drying means, moisture is removed while spraying the mixture containing the beverage composition of the present invention and the packaging agent.
Examples of commercially available spray dryers that can be used for spray drying include spray dryer SD-1000 (trade name, Tokyo Rika Kikai Co., Ltd.), spray dryer L-8i (trade name, Okawara Kako Co., Ltd.) ), Closed spray dryer CL-12 (trade name, Okawara Chemical Co., Ltd.), spray dryer ADL310 (trade name, Yamato Scientific Co., Ltd.), mini spray dryer B-290 (trade name, Büch), PJ- MiniMax (trade name, Powdering Japan Co., Ltd.), PHARMASD (trade name, Niro Co., Ltd.) and the like can be mentioned.
Further, using these apparatuses, for example, treatment using a fluidized bed granulator / dryer MP-01 (trade name, Powrec Co., Ltd.), a fluidized bed built-in spray dryer FSD (trade name, Niro Co., Ltd.), etc. A method of simultaneously performing drying and granulation can also be employed.

To prepare the dried beverage of the present invention in the form of a powder composition again in the form of a liquid beverage, a solvent (dispersion medium) selected from the powder composition and water or an aqueous solution depending on the desired concentration And the powdered beverage composition may be redispersed (re-dissolved) in a solvent to obtain a liquid beverage composition.
A powdered beverage composition that can be readjusted as a liquid composition as needed may be referred to as a “prepared for” beverage composition.
By mixing a powdered beverage composition and a solvent such as water or an aqueous solution, and dissolving or dispersing the powdered beverage composition in the solvent, the glucosylceramide-containing particles are redispersed in the solvent and re-prepared. The liquid beverage composition containing the prepared glucosylceramide-containing particles has good stability.

  The powdery beverage composition for preparation of essential matters which is one aspect of the beverage composition of the present invention is easy to store and transport, and can be easily prepared as a liquid beverage composition by diluting as necessary. . For this reason, a powdery beverage composition can be distributed and sold in a bag or can excellent in airtightness. It can also be distributed and sold in the form of a individually packaged powdered beverage composition. Further, as described above, the powdered beverage composition of the present invention is also useful when sold with a cup-type vending machine.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples. However, the present invention is not limited to them. Unless otherwise specified, “%” and “part” are based on mass.

[Example 1]
A beverage composition of Example 1 was prepared according to the following method.
(Preparation of glucosylceramide dispersion)
2.00 g of glycomesphingoglycolipid (trade name, Okayasu Co., Ltd.), which is a raw material containing 63% β-glucosylceramide derived from rice, 97% soybean-derived phospholipid content, phosphatidic acid content 1.00 g of 13% SLP-white (trade name, Sakai Oil Co., Ltd.) was added to a mixed solution of 67.00 g of glycerin and 30.00 g of purified water with stirring using a magnetic stirrer.
Further, the mixture was heated to 70 ° C. for 30 minutes while continuing stirring with a stirrer, and then a shearing force was applied at 3000 rpm for 3 minutes using a TK homomixer to prepare an aqueous suspension of glucosylceramide and lecithin.
The above-mentioned aqueous suspension is treated three times at a pressure of 200 MPa with a starburst mini machine (Sugino Machine Co., Ltd.), which is a high-pressure dispersion device, to obtain a nano-dispersion containing 1.26% glucosylceramide. It was.

(Preparation of beverage composition)
The resulting glucosylceramide nanodispersion (1.00 g), ascorbic acid (0.40 g), erythritol (3.50 g) and peach flavor (0.02 g) were diluted with 0.05 M (mol / 1000 g) citrate buffer at pH 3.4. The beverage composition of Example 1 was obtained as 100 ml.

[Example 2 to Example 15, Comparative Example 1 to Comparative Example 8]
The beverage compositions of Examples 2 to 15 and Comparative Examples 1 to 8 were the same as Example 1 except that each component in Example 1 was the type and amount described in Table 1 below. Prepared.
That is, the content of lecithin (SLP-white, Sakai Oil Co., Ltd.) and the content of phosphatidic acid (PA) contained in lecithin were changed to the contents shown in Table 1 below. In Comparative Examples 6 to 8, other emulsifiers shown in Table 1 were used instead of lecithin.
In Table 1, glucosylceramide is abbreviated as “GlcCer”, SLP-white (trade name, Sakai Oil Co., Ltd.) as “lecithin”, and phosphatidic acid as “PA”.

[Evaluation of beverage composition]
Each obtained beverage composition was evaluated by the following methods.
(1. Measurement of average particle diameter)
The average particle diameter of the glucosylceramide-containing particles contained in each obtained beverage composition was measured by the following method.
Using Nanotrac UPA-EX150 (trade name, Nikkiso Co., Ltd.), each beverage composition obtained was directly diluted into a sample cell in the apparatus, and the average particle size was measured at 25 ° C. It was measured. The volume average particle size (Mv) was measured as the average particle size. The measurement results are shown in Table 1. In the following tables, the column of the average particle size measurement result of the glucosylceramide-containing particles is simply described as “average particle size”.

(Turbidity measurement)
Using a Shimadzu spectrophotometer UV-2550 type (trade name, Shimadzu Corporation), a beverage sample was placed in a glass cell having an optical path length of 10 mm, and the absorbance at 650 nm was measured, and this value was defined as turbidity.
The turbidity was measured twice immediately after preparation of the beverage composition (initial turbidity) and after storage at 40 ° C. for 2 weeks. The turbidity immediately after preparation and the turbidity after storage at 40 ° C. for 2 weeks were measured, and the turbidity increase value relative to the turbidity immediately after preparation was calculated. Table 1 shows the results of the initial turbidity and the turbidity increase rate.

(Storage stability: cloudiness of beverage composition)
After preparing the beverage composition, it was stored at 40 ° C. for 2 weeks, and then the turbidity in the beverage composition was visually observed and evaluated according to the following criteria. The results are shown in Table 1.
In the following evaluations, A to B are practically satisfactory levels.
A: It is transparent and turbidity is not recognized.
B: Slight turbidity is observed.
C: Turbidity is observed.
(Storage stability: Precipitation)
After preparing the beverage composition, it was stored at 40 ° C. for 2 weeks, and then visually observed for the presence or absence of precipitation in the beverage composition, and evaluated according to the following criteria. The results are shown in Table 1.
In the following evaluations, A to B are practically satisfactory levels.
A: No precipitation is observed in the beverage composition.
B: A slight suspended matter is observed in the beverage composition.
C: Precipitation and precipitation are observed in the beverage composition.
D: Precipitation in the beverage composition is significant or phase separation is observed.

(Evaluation of moisturizing skin)
Three subjects were randomly selected from 10 healthy men and 20 women between the ages of 25 and 60 (one man and two women), and the subjects were selected.
The subjects were allowed to take 50 ml of the glucosylceramide-containing beverage composition orally at a frequency of once a day for 3 days, and the moisture feeling before and after the ingestion was evaluated in a questionnaire format.
After that, the drinking cycle of repeating the next evaluation by ingesting the same beverage composition again in the next 3 days without taking the glucosylceramide-containing beverage composition for 4 days, drinking 3 days, non-drinking 4 days The set of and was performed for a maximum of 3 cycles, and the effect of improving the moisturizing feeling on the skin was confirmed by sensory evaluation of the subject according to the following criteria.
A to C are levels at which improvement in the moisturizing feeling of the skin by drinking was confirmed.
A: The feeling of moisturizing skin when drinking is clearly better than when not drinking.
B: The feeling of moisture of the skin at the time of drinking is slightly better than that at the time of non-drinking.
C: The feeling of moisture of the skin at the time of drinking is a feeling that is rather better than that at the time of non-drinking.
D: The feeling of moisture of the skin at the time of drinking is not changed at all as compared to the case of not drinking.

As shown in Table 1, all of the beverage compositions of the present invention have good stability of dispersed particles, and have been evaluated to be effective for improving the moisturizing feeling of the skin.
Moreover, compared with Example 12, Example 1, Example 3, and Example 11, the stability of a drink composition is more favorable because phosphatidic acid (PA) content in a lecithin increases. It turns out that the effect on the skin is improved.
On the other hand, in Comparative Example 1 in which the particle size of the dispersed particles exceeds 200 nm, even if the glucosylceramide content in the beverage composition is equivalent to that in Example 1 because the oral absorption is not sufficient, sufficient skin A moist feeling was not obtained, and the dispersibility was inferior.
Further, in Comparative Example 2 where the pH exceeded 4.0, there was no turbidity at the initial stage of preparation, which was good, but turbidity and precipitation occurred during storage. The occurrence of turbidity and precipitation is presumed to be related to spoilage.
Furthermore, the beverage composition of Comparative Example 3 having a pH of less than 2.5, Comparative Example 5 not containing lecithin, and Comparative Examples 6 to 8 using known dispersants other than lecithin are all dispersed particle stability. However, it was a problem level.
In Comparative Example 4 having a glucosylceramide content of less than 1 ppm, a sufficient skin moist feeling was not obtained.

[Example 16: Powdered beverage composition]
A powdery beverage composition corresponding to Example 3 of the liquid beverage composition shown in Table 1 was prepared by the following method.
A dispersion was prepared in the same manner as in Example 3 except that 67.00 g of glycerin was replaced with 67.00 g of purified water in the preparation of the glucosylceramide dispersion of Example 3. A beverage composition was prepared in the same manner as in Example 3 except that 1.00 g of the obtained dispersion was used, and this was designated as beverage composition 6-L. The glucosylceramide concentration in the obtained beverage composition 6-L was 126 ppm.
100 g of the beverage composition 6-L was weighed, 5.00 g of trehalose (Hayashibara Co., Ltd.) was added as a packaging agent, and the mixture was dissolved by stirring at 25 ° C. for 30 minutes. The obtained solution was spray-dried using a spray dryer ADL310 type (trade name, Yamato Scientific Co., Ltd.) to obtain a powdery beverage composition 6-P. The spray drying was performed under the conditions of a spray pressure of 0.15 MPa, an outlet temperature of 80 ° C., and a treatment amount of 7 ml / min. The glucosylceramide content in the obtained powdered beverage composition 6-P was 1277 ppm.

90.13 g of purified water was added to 9.87 g of powdered beverage composition 6-P and stirred using a stirrer at 25 ° C. to re-dissolve powdered beverage composition 6-P in water. A liquid beverage composition 6-R was obtained.
The concentration of glucosylceramide in the obtained beverage composition 6-R was 126 ppm, similar to the beverage composition 6-L used for the preparation of the powdered beverage composition 6-P.

  Initial turbidity between liquid beverage composition 6-L and liquid beverage composition 6-R obtained by re-dissolving powdered beverage composition 6-P in which beverage composition 6-L is powdered The average particle size and storage stability (turbidity and precipitation) of the glucosylceramide-containing particles were evaluated in the same manner as in the evaluation in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 2 below.

  From the results of Table 2, the beverage composition of the present invention is also in powder form when a powdered beverage composition is prepared and the resulting powdered beverage composition is redissolved to form a beverage composition again. It was confirmed to have the same dispersibility and stability as the previous beverage composition.

[Examples 17 to 26, Comparative Examples 9 to 11]
Beverage compositions of Examples 17 to 26 and Comparative Examples 9 to 11 were prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the components and examples in Example 1 were changed to the types and amounts shown in Table 3 below.
In Table 3 below, lecithin (SLP-White: Sakai Oil Co., Ltd.) used in Example 1 is described as “normal lecithin” in order to distinguish it from lysolecithin. Lysolecithin (SLP-white lyso, trade name, Sakai Oil Co., Ltd.) was abbreviated as “lysolecithin”, and phosphatidic acid was abbreviated as “PA”.

(Measurement of average particle size)
The average particle diameter of the glucosylceramide-containing particles contained in each obtained beverage composition was measured by the following method.
Using Nanotrac UPA-EX150 (trade name, Nikkiso Co., Ltd.), each beverage composition obtained was directly diluted into a sample cell in the apparatus, and the average particle size was measured at 25 ° C. It was measured. The volume average particle size (Mv) was measured as the average particle size. Table 3 shows the measurement results.

(Turbidity measurement)
Using a Shimadzu spectrophotometer UV-2550 type (trade name, Shimadzu Corporation), a beverage sample was placed in a glass cell having an optical path length of 10 mm, and the absorbance at 650 nm was measured, and this value was defined as turbidity.
The turbidity was measured twice immediately after preparation of the beverage composition (initial turbidity) and after sterilization at 80 ° C. for 1 hour. The turbidity immediately after preparation and the turbidity after sterilization treatment at 80 ° C. for 1 hour were measured, and the turbidity increase value relative to the turbidity immediately after preparation was calculated. Table 3 shows the results of turbidity immediately after preparation (turbidity before sterilization) and turbidity increase values.

Examples 17, 20, and 21 containing lysolecithin (SLP-white lyso: Sumi Oil Co., Ltd.) compared to Example 24 that normally contains lecithin (SLP-White: Sumi Oil Co., Ltd.) Further, it can be seen that the increase in turbidity is relatively suppressed in Example 18 as compared with Example 25 even when high temperature treatment at 80 ° C. for 1 hour is performed.
In addition, from the evaluation results of Example 22 and Example 23 containing lysolecithin and normal lecithin, lysolecithin was blended in an amount of 50% by mass or more based on the total amount of normal lecithin and lysolecithin, compared with Example 24. It has been found that the stabilizing effect is increased.

[Examples 27 to 33, Comparative Example 12]
Beverage compositions of Examples 27 to 33 and Comparative Example 12 were prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the components and amounts in Example 1 were changed to the types and amounts described in Table 4 below.
In Table 4 below, lysolecithin (SLP-white lyso, trade name, Sakai Oil Co., Ltd.) was used as lecithin (described as “lysolecithin” in Table 4). In Examples 27 to 33, beverage compositions containing saponin in addition to lecithin were evaluated. The saponins listed in Table 4 below are JQL (trade name, Mitsuba Trading Co., Ltd.) for Kirayasaponin, soybean saponin (trade name, Tama Biochemical Co., Ltd.), and yukkasaponin (trade name). , Mitsuba Trading Co., Ltd.).

[Evaluation of beverage composition]
(Measurement of average particle size)
The average particle diameter of the glucosylceramide-containing particles contained in each obtained beverage composition was measured by the following method.
Using Nanotrac UPA-EX150 (trade name, Nikkiso Co., Ltd.), each beverage composition obtained was directly diluted into a sample cell in the apparatus, and the average particle size was measured at 25 ° C. It was measured. The volume average particle size (Mv) was measured as the average particle size. Table 4 shows the measurement results.

(Turbidity measurement)
Using a Shimadzu spectrophotometer UV-2550 type (trade name, Shimadzu Corporation), a beverage sample was placed in a glass cell having an optical path length of 10 mm, and the absorbance at 650 nm was measured, and this value was defined as turbidity.
Turbidity was measured twice after preparing the beverage composition and sterilizing at high temperature and after storing at 40 ° C. for 2 months. The turbidity immediately after sterilization and the turbidity after storage at 40 ° C. for 2 months were measured, and the increase in turbidity relative to the turbidity immediately after preparation was calculated. Table 4 shows the results of turbidity immediately after sterilization and turbidity increase values.

From the comparison of the evaluation results of Example 27 and Example 28 described in Table 4, it can be seen that by containing lysolecithin and saponin, the stability in storage at 40 ° C. for 2 months is further improved. In addition, from the results of Examples 28 to 31, the beverage composition prepared under the condition of the content ratio at which the saponin / lecithin ratio is 0.2 or more has a markedly suppressed increase in turbidity at 40 ° C. for 2 months. Became clear.
In addition, it has been found that the use of Quillaja saponin as saponin has a higher effect of suppressing the increase in turbidity than a composition using soybean saponin and yucca saponin.

Claims (13)

A beverage composition comprising glucosylceramide-containing particles and lecithin,
The content of glucosylceramide in the beverage composition is 1 ppm or more and 10,000 ppm or less, and
A beverage composition having a pH of 2.5 to 4.0.   The beverage composition according to claim 1, wherein the average particle diameter of the glucosylceramide-containing particles is 200 nm or less.   The beverage composition according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the glucosylceramide contains β-glucosylceramide.   The beverage composition according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the content of lecithin with respect to glucosylceramide is in a range of 0.1 to 10 times by mass.   The beverage composition according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the lecithin comprises lysolecithin.   The beverage composition according to claim 5, wherein the lysolecithin content in the total lecithin is 50% by mass or more.   The beverage composition according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein lecithin comprises phosphatidic acid.   The beverage composition according to claim 7, wherein the content of phosphatidic acid in the total amount of lecithin is 15% by mass or more.   Furthermore, the drink composition of any one of Claims 1-8 containing a saponin.   The beverage composition according to claim 9, wherein the saponin comprises kiraya saponin or quilaya extract.   Furthermore, the drink composition of any one of Claims 1-10 containing at least 1 sort (s) chosen from the group which consists of a citric acid, ascorbic acid, tartaric acid, and malic acid.   The beverage composition according to any one of claims 1 to 11, and at least one packaging agent selected from the group consisting of polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and sugar alcohols; A powdery beverage composition comprising   The beverage composition according to claim 12, which is diluted with a solvent containing water and used for drinking.