JP4840379B2 - Easy-to-swallow tofu-like gel food - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a tofu-like gel food excellent in swallowability and having good storage stability.

  In recent years, as the elderly population has increased, the number of people who have difficulty chewing and swallowing has increased, and the risk of pneumonia and suffocation due to aspiration has increased. While there are technological innovations such as enteral nutrition as nutritional management methods for those with difficulty in chewing and swallowing, from the viewpoint of QOL, in order to obtain an “eating” experience, gel-like solid foods that can be taken orally are desired .

  It is said that it is important for the gel characteristics of foods suitable for those with difficulty in chewing and swallowing to maintain a cohesive bolus in the oral cavity, to have little adhesion in the mouth such as the upper jaw, and to be difficult to collapse . In addition, medical foods are generally desired to have a form that can withstand long-term distribution.

  On the other hand, soy protein has been shown to have many effects of improving lipid metabolism and preventing diseases by its intake, and it can be actively administered to patients with diseases such as diabetic nephropathy. It is coming. Tofu containing a large amount of soy protein has high palatability for the elderly, but it is easy to swallow due to its fragile nature, making it difficult for those with difficulty to swallow. In order to eat this, it is necessary to break down with a mixer or the like and harden with an appropriate gelling agent.

  Furthermore, when tofu is treated with retort heating (high temperature and high pressure) to enable long-term distribution, the texture is not smooth, and it becomes a rough gel with a strong disintegration. Appearance problems such as dark colors also occur. Especially for those who have difficulty swallowing, in addition to the above-mentioned problem of aspiration, quality deterioration due to retort heating makes it even more difficult to eat. Accordingly, there is a need for the development of tofu-like foods that contain a high degree of soy protein and can withstand long-term distribution for people with difficulty swallowing.

  Many techniques have been developed to improve the texture reduction when tofu is subjected to high-temperature and high-pressure sterilization (retort sterilization). Patent Document 1 describes a method using a chelating agent, and Patent Document 2 describes a method of blending starch and dextrin. However, these methods do not overcome the above-described fragility of tofu and have not yet obtained physical properties for those having difficulty swallowing.

  Patent Document 3 describes a method for producing a retort-sterilized tofu-like gel food by a method of blending a gelling agent and microcrystalline cellulose, and Patent Document 4 describes a method of blending native gellan gum. Yes. However, these also have not yet achieved physical properties for those with difficulty in swallowing, which have little water separation and are difficult to collapse.

  In patent document 5, there exists description regarding manufacture of tofu which is excellent in retort tolerance by adding transglutaminase. Although transglutaminase shows an improvement in heat resistance, the texture of the obtained tofu becomes slightly hard and no improvement in swallowability is observed.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 62-294058 JP-A-6-113777 JP 2004-73049 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-150942 JP-A-3-168059

  The present invention is a tofu-like gel containing a soy protein material, which has a texture that forms a solid bolus even after retort heating, is easy to swallow, has a texture that is difficult for a person with difficulty to swallow, and is excellent in color tone The purpose was to provide food.

  As a result of various studies in view of such problems, the present inventor has found that a soy protein material and a reduced starch degradation product are blended, and further, a divalent metal ion and soy protein are reacted in the presence of a chelating agent, thereby making it difficult to swallow. It was found that a tofu-like gel-like food product can be obtained which is suitable for foods and forms a clump with little water separation.

That is, the present invention
(1) A swallowable tofu-like gel-like food comprising a soy protein material, a divalent metal salt, a chelating agent and a reduced starch degradation product, and being subjected to high-temperature and pressure-sterilized treatment.
(2) The swallowable tofu-like gelled food according to (1), wherein the reduced starch decomposition product has a DE value of 5 to 35 according to the method defined in the present specification.
(3) The swallowable tofu-like gelled food according to (1), which contains lipid and has an energy amount of 0.9 kcal / g or more.
(4) A method for producing an easily swallowable tofu-like gel-like food, characterized in that the raw material is a soy protein material, a divalent metal salt, a chelating agent, and a reduced starch decomposition product, and is prepared by high-temperature pressure sterilization treatment.
Is to provide.

  According to the present invention, a cohesive bolus is formed even if retort heating is performed, it is a texture that is easy to swallow with little water separation, is difficult to swallow, and has a good color tone and a small amount of high energy It has become possible to obtain a tofu-like gel-like food having a high content of soy protein.

  The gel food of the present invention contains a soy protein material, a divalent metal salt, and a reduced starch degradation product, and is characterized by reacting a divalent metal ion and soy protein in the presence of a chelating agent. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.

(Soy protein material)
As the soy protein material used in the present invention, slurry or soy milk extracted from whole soybeans, defatted soybeans, concentrated soybean protein, etc. can be used. It is preferable to use an isolated soybean protein prepared by isoelectric focusing the soy milk extracted from the above and neutralizing the obtained protein precipitate. In addition, when a high heat such as retort is applied to form a tofu-like gel, the reaction between protein and mineral may proceed rapidly, and the gel may be roughened. Therefore, it is most preferable to use a separated soybean protein having low viscosity and low calcium reactivity.

  An isolated soybean protein with low viscosity and low calcium reactivity can be prepared, for example, as follows. A soluble material is extracted from defatted soybean or the like with water or warm water, and okara is removed to obtain defatted soymilk. After adjusting this defatted soymilk to pH 4-5 and recovering the protein as an isoelectric point precipitate, it is adjusted to pH 5.7 to 7.4, preferably pH 6.0 to 7.0 together with water, and 110 to 160 ° C. in an aqueous system as it is. Preferably, the heat treatment can be performed at 115 ° C. to 140 ° C. for 15 to 70 seconds, preferably 20 to 60 seconds. During the heat treatment, it is also preferable for imparting the physical properties to add sodium hyposulfite to the protein suspension at 0.05% by weight or more per solid content.

(Reduced starch degradation product)
In the present invention, addition of a reduced starch decomposition product is essential. The reduced starch degradation product is a non-reducing dextrin in which starch is partially hydrolyzed and then reduced, and the reducing terminal is a sugar alcohol. Reduced starch degradation products are not only difficult to be browned by retort sterilization itself, but also the tofu gel with added starch does not disintegrate like normal tofu, and is coherent. It can be a physical property. The reduced starch decomposition product used here has a DE value of preferably 5 to 35, and more preferably 5 to 25. When the DE value is small, the texture of the tofu to be prepared finally becomes hard and the texture becomes easy to collapse. When the DE value is large, the texture tends to be soft, the sweetness becomes strong, and water separation tends to increase. Normally, the DE value is expressed as a comparison of reducing power when glucose is 100, but the reduced starch degradation product of the present invention basically has no reducing ability. Therefore, in the present application, the DE value of the starch degradation product having the same average molecular weight as the terminal is not reduced is regarded as the DE value of the reduced starch degradation product.

  The compounding quantity of the reduced starch decomposition product used for this invention has big influence on the quality of the gel-like foodstuff obtained. If the blending amount is small, it tends to collapse like normal tofu, and the swallowability tends to deteriorate due to increased water separation. Furthermore, since the carbohydrate source is reduced, the nutritional value is low. If the amount is large, the texture tends to become hard. The preferred blending amount varies depending on the DE value of the reduced starch decomposition product to be used, so it is difficult to specify the range in general, but for example, the preferred blending when using the reduced starch decomposition product of DE value 19-19 The amount is 5-25% by weight, more preferably 10-25% by weight, most preferably 13-18% by weight.

(Chelating agent)
The chelating agent used in the present invention has a function of sequestering metal, and citric acid, phosphoric acid, polyphosphoric acid, hexametaphosphoric acid, phytic acid, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, or salts thereof such as sodium hexametaphosphate, phosphorus Examples thereof include trisodium acid and trisodium citrate. Since the mixing ratio of the chelating agent affects the final texture, the addition amount needs to be adjusted. The optimum addition amount varies depending on various conditions such as the protein content, the type of protein to be used and the total solid content, but it can be appropriately selected within the range of 0.05 wt% to 2 wt%. If the addition amount is small, the effect is low, and if it is added excessively, the formation of tofu gel is inhibited, which is not preferable.

(Divalent metal salt)
In the present invention, addition of a divalent metal salt is preferred. What is necessary is just to use the salt used for normal tofu manufacture, but the salt to be used can be suitably selected from what contains at least 1 or more types in the form of calcium salt and magnesium salt other than that. For example, calcium sulfate, calcium lactate, magnesium chloride, and magnesium sulfate can be exemplified. The amount used is in accordance with the usual preparation of tofu, and the amount necessary for the formation of tofu-like gel is used, but it is 5 to 150 mg / 100 g as divalent metal, preferably 10 to 70 mg / 100 g, more preferably 15 to 40 mg / 100g can be illustrated. However, it may increase or decrease depending on the amount of chelating agent.

(Oil and fat)
Addition of fats and oils to the present invention is preferable because the nutritional value is increased. The fats and oils to be used are not particularly limited as long as there are no problems on the work surface. Various oils such as soybean oil, rapeseed oil, safflower oil, corn oil, rice bran oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm oil, cocoa butter, milk fat, fish oil, beef tallow, pork fat it can. Medium chain fatty acid triglyceride (MCT), which excels in digestion and absorption, is preferable in terms of nutrition.

(Other ingredients)
In the gel food of the present invention, in addition to the above-mentioned soybean protein material, reduced starch degradation product, divalent metal salt and chelating agent, other raw materials can be blended if necessary in addition to fats and oils. For example, protein materials other than soy protein can be blended to such an extent that the texture of tofu is not impaired. These protein materials include collagen peptides, meat peptides, various meat-derived proteins, chicken egg protein, sodium caseinate, casein, milk protein concentrate, milk whey concentrate, milk whey isolate, milk protein degradation products, Plant proteins such as corn protein and wheat protein can be added. In addition to proteins, carbohydrates such as starch, starch syrup, dextrin, cyclodextrin, sugar, fructose, lactose, trehalose, oligosaccharide, etc., as long as they do not impair the swallowability and tofu-like flavor and color tone that are the objects of the present invention. Can be blended. Furthermore, emulsifiers, pigments, fragrances, minerals, vitamins and the like can be blended depending on the purpose. It is also possible to add other gelling agents within a range that does not greatly affect the physical properties of the easily swallowable gel.

(Energy amount)
It is desirable that those who have difficulty in swallowing have less food intake due to their reduced eating function and can take as much nutrition as possible with a single meal. Therefore, the tofu-like gel of the present invention preferably has a calorific value of 0.9 kcal or more per 1 g of the gel food by increasing one or more blends selected from the above-described oils, fats, carbohydrates and proteins. At this time, the addition of fats and oils is particularly effective for increasing the amount of heat. Considering that the ease of swallowing decreases due to an increase in solid content, the amount of heat is preferably within a range not exceeding 2.5 kilocalories per gram of gelled food.

(Production method)
The present invention is characterized in that a divalent metal ion and soybean protein are reacted slowly in the presence of a chelating agent. Therefore, it is desirable to prepare an aqueous dispersion containing a soybean protein material, a reduced starch decomposition product and, if necessary, fats and oils in advance, cool the mixture, and then mix a divalent metal salt solution containing a chelating agent. The temperature during mixing is preferably 50 ° C. or lower, and more preferably 25 ° C. or lower. By mixing within this temperature range, the reaction from the operation such as filling the container can be suppressed, and a uniform gel can be formed.

(Gel food)
The gel food of the present invention is characterized in that it is subjected to a high temperature and pressure sterilization treatment in which a solution in which the above raw materials are mixed is treated in a high temperature and high pressure environment exceeding 100 ° C. For example, it can be obtained by filling the mixed solution in a suitable container such as a cup or pouch and sterilizing by retort under high temperature and pressure. The mixed solution may be dissolved with a stirrer such as a homomixer, but is preferably prepared with a high-pressure homogenizer or the like. The heating conditions may be any conditions that can achieve sterilization at a temperature exceeding 100 ° C., and an F value of 4 or more can be exemplified.

(Easily swallowable gel food)
Easily swallowing is a physical property of a texture that is less likely to cause aspiration, with less adherence in the oral cavity and suppressed collapse. This can also be evaluated by the following method. For example, the paneler faces the upper surface at an angle of 45 degrees upward, and the sample is chewed only with the gums without using teeth, and it is evaluated in five stages whether there is no difficulty in eating or eating. In addition, moderate water separation from the gel is necessary to allow the bolus to pass smoothly, but if there is excessive water separation, there is a risk of aspiration, so check the state of water separation visually. . Ease of swallowing is evaluated by comprehensively considering these factors.

(Use)
The gel-like food obtained by the present invention is a high protein food with a texture that is sterilized by retort and can be distributed at room temperature, has low adhesiveness in the oral cavity, and is unlikely to cause aspiration. Further, unlike the conventionally known soy milk solidified with a gelling agent, it retains the flavor texture of tofu. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a soy protein-supplied food that is very useful in the medical treatment of elderly people who have difficulty swallowing, especially patients who are important in protein supplementation such as measures against pressure ulcers.

  Examples of the present invention will be described below in detail. In the examples, “%” and “part” mean weight basis.

(Production Example 1) Preparation of soy protein material A Add 100 parts by weight of low-denatured defatted soybeans to 1,000 parts by weight of water, and extract at 40 ° C for 30 minutes while stirring with a homomixer (made by Tokushu Kika Kogyo Co., Ltd.). And centrifuged at 3,000 × g to remove okara and obtain defatted soymilk. This was adjusted to pH 4.5 with hydrochloric acid, subjected to isoelectric point precipitation, and centrifuged to obtain an acid precipitation curd. Four times the amount of water was added to this and adjusted to pH 6.3 with sodium hydroxide to obtain a solution containing separated soybean protein. After adding 0.08% sodium sulfite to this solid content, heat it at 150 ° C for 40 seconds with a continuous direct heating sterilizer (Alfa Laval) and spray-dry with a spray dryer (Okawara Kako) The powdered soybean protein material A was obtained.

Example 1
Using the soy protein material A obtained in the above production example, the gel composition of the present invention was prepared by trial blending shown in Table 1 below. Soy protein material A and reduced starch degradation product (H-PDX (DE value 16-19), Matsutani Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) are mixed in advance and dispersed in ion-exchanged water using TK homomixer (Plymix). I let you. After the powder raw material was sufficiently dispersed, oil and fat were added and mixed to carry out preliminary emulsification. Next, the emulsion was heated to 70 ° C. and homogenized with a high-pressure homogenizer (manufactured by APV), and the solution was cooled to 10 ° C. To the cooled emulsion, a mixture of calcium lactate, magnesium sulfate and sodium hexametaphosphate previously dispersed in ion-exchanged water is added to form a uniform dispersion, and then filled into a retort cup. High-temperature and high-pressure sterilization (retort sterilization) was performed for a minute.

○ Table 1. Prototype formulation

The obtained gel composition was subjected to sensory evaluation by 10 panelists. In order to determine the ease of swallowing, the paneler faces the upper surface at an angle of 45 degrees upward, and the sample can be chewed only with the gums without using teeth, so that it may be difficult to eat or eat. (5 is good, 1 is bad). Further, the amount of water separation from the gel was visually evaluated.
The evaluation criteria for water separation are shown below.
0: There is no water separation. Level with no problem with aspiration -1: Slight water separation is observed, but level with no problem with aspiration -2: Some water separation is observed, but acceptable level -3: Water separation is recognized. Some patients may prefer it.
-4: Water separation is considerably observed, and the risk of aspiration cannot be denied.
-5: The water is very separated and there is a risk of aspiration.

Furthermore, the color tone, flavor, and the like were taken into consideration in a comprehensive manner, and the overall evaluation was shown as follows.
◎: Suitable as an easily swallowable tofu-like gel ○: Preferred as an easily swallowable tofu-like gel Δ: Can be used as an easily swallowable tofu-like gel ×: Difficult to use as an easily swallowable tofu-like gel

The obtained tofu-like gel-like food was good in color tone, excellent in flavor, and a coherent bolus, which is difficult to cause aspiration. The panel showed a swallowing score of 4.6, which was good with almost no water separation. In addition, this prototype contains approximately 1.05 kilocalories (kcal) / g of energy, and the amount of energy of silk tofu (0.56 kcal / g) (5th revised food composition analysis table 2007, Women's Nutrition University Press) ) And was most suitable for elderly people with thin meals.

(Example 2) Preparation with commercially available isolated soy protein In place of the soy protein material A, the same composition as in Example 1 except that a commercially available isolated soy protein “Fujipro E” (manufactured by Fuji Oil Co., Ltd.) was used. And a tofu-like gel food was prepared by the method. The obtained prototype had a little elasticity and weak gel as compared with Example 1, but was good because it was coherent and hardly aspirated. The evaluation of swallowability by 10 panelists was 4.1, and the level of water separation was good enough to be observed.

(Example 3) Examination of chelating agent blending amount A tofu-like gel-like food was prepared by the same blending and technique as in Example 1 except that the sodium hexametaphosphate blending amount was changed. In the case where sodium hexametaphosphate was not blended, there was a lot of water separation, and the texture was crushed. When the amount of sodium hexametaphosphate was increased, the texture was improved, and it was possible to prepare a particularly favorable texture at 0.3% by weight or more. Under these conditions, 0.2 wt% to 1 wt% could be set as a more preferable range.

○ Table 2. Effect of sodium hexametaphosphate content

(Example 4) Examination of types of sugars A tofu-like gel-like food was prepared by the same composition and method as in Example 1 except that the reduced starch degradation product was changed. Trehalose and sorbitol were unsuitable due to large amounts of water separation. Reduced starch degradation products differ depending on the DE value, with a DE value of 40 (PO40 / Mitsubishi Food Tech Co., Ltd.), a slight water separation was observed, and a DE value of 10 (BDH (DE value of about 10), Matsutani Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., DE value 20 (PO20 / Mitsubishi Food Tech Co., Ltd.) was particularly good.

○ Table 3. Effect of carbohydrate type

(Example 4) Examination of blending amount of reduced starch degradation product A tofu-like gel food was prepared by the same blending and method as in Example 1 except that the blending amount of the reduced starch degradation product was changed. When 7.5 parts or more of the reduced starch decomposition product was blended, a good swallowable gel food was obtained, and when 11.25 parts or more were blended, it was particularly good.

○ Table 4. Effect of blended amount of reduced starch degradation products

(Example 5) Examination of increase in blending amount of fat (increased energy) A tofu-like gel-like food was prepared by the same blending and technique as in Example 1 except that the blending amount of fat was 8 parts. The obtained tofu-like gel-like food was good because it had a texture with a silky tofu-like texture and was difficult to cause aspiration. This gel food contains an energy amount of about 1.5 kcal / g and is suitable when a small amount of high calorie is required.

(Example 6) Examination of gelatin formulation A tofu-like gel food was prepared by the same formulation and method as in Example 1 except that 1.5 parts of gelatin (water-soluble gelatin MAX-F / manufactured by Nippi Co., Ltd.) was added. did. The obtained tofu-like gel-like food had a very smooth texture and was superior to easy swallowing.

Claims (4)

An easy-to-swallow tofu-like gel-like food comprising a soy protein material, a divalent metal salt, a chelating agent and a reduced starch degradation product, and being subjected to high-temperature and pressure-sterilized treatment. The easily swallowable tofu-like gelled food according to claim 1, wherein the reduced starch decomposition product has a DE value of 5 to 35 according to a method defined in the present specification. The easily swallowable tofu-like gelled food according to claim 1, comprising a lipid and having an energy amount of 0.9 kcal / g or more. A method for producing a swallowable tofu-like gel-like food, characterized in that the raw material is a soy protein material, a divalent metal salt, a chelating agent, and a reduced starch degradation product, and is prepared by high-temperature pressure sterilization treatment.