JP7394537B2 - beverage - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to beverages.

BACKGROUND ART Beverages containing microbial cells have been developed in response to consumers' health-consciousness. Among these, beverages containing lactic acid bacteria are attracting attention because they have physiological activities beneficial to health, such as intestinal regulating effects and antiallergic effects.

Examples of methods for producing beverages containing microbial cells include methods of blending fermented milk obtained by adding lactic acid bacteria to raw milk and fermenting them, or blending microbial powder obtained by drying microbial cells by freeze-drying etc. into drinks. Examples include a method to do so.

In the past, many yogurts and lactic acid bacteria drinks were sold due to the need to directly ingest live lactic acid bacteria, but the consumption scenarios, flavors, and distribution formats were limited. In recent years, there has been a growing need to inoculate lactic acid bacteria, etc., which are easily delicious in all situations, and which have physiological effects beneficial to health, regardless of the form or genre of the drink. Therefore, beverages containing microbial cell powder have been sold to meet the needs of people who want to easily consume beverages that have health-beneficial physiological activities derived from microorganisms, not only those that contain live microorganisms. ing. However, a problem with such drinks is that the odor (medium odor) derived from the bacterial powder impairs the flavor.

Medium odor tends to become a problem when, for example, powder of microorganisms cultured in a medium containing yeast extract, meat extract, peptone, etc. is blended. Up to now, various studies have been made to reduce the culture medium odor of beverages, and for example, a method has been proposed for blending a predetermined aroma component into a beverage containing lactic acid bacteria powder (for example, Patent Document 1 reference).

On the other hand, methods of adding sodium sources such as common salt have been adopted for the purpose of adjusting the taste of beverages and replenishing sodium sources.

However, although adding a sodium source to a beverage to achieve a predetermined sodium concentration increases the flavor, there is a problem in that the salty taste derived from sodium is felt strongly and palatability is impaired. Further, when a sodium source is contained in a beverage containing microorganism powder, the culture medium odor peculiar to the microorganism powder and the salty taste derived from the sodium source combine to create an undesirable aftertaste.

Until now, there has been no known method for obtaining a beverage containing microbial cell powder in which the culture medium odor is suppressed, the salty taste is suppressed, and the beverage has a desirable flavor (tastiness).

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-153101

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a beverage containing microbial cell powder, which has suppressed culture medium odor, suppresses salty taste, and has a desirable flavor (tastiness) as a beverage. The purpose is to provide beverages.

The present inventors have discovered that the above problem can be solved by blending a sugar alcohol into a beverage containing microbial cell powder and a predetermined amount of sodium, and have completed the present invention. More specifically, the present invention provides the following.

(1) A drink containing microbial cell powder and 20 to 80 mg/100 mL of sodium,
Beverages containing sugar alcohols.

(2) The beverage according to (1), wherein the solid content concentration of the sugar alcohol in the beverage is 2 to 40 g/L.

(3) The beverage according to (1) or (2), which contains at least maltitol as the sugar alcohol.

(4) The beverage according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the microbial cell powder is a lactic acid bacteria cell powder.

According to the present invention, there is provided a beverage containing microbial cell powder, which has suppressed culture medium odor, suppresses salty taste, and has a desirable flavor (tastiness) as a beverage.

Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below, but the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and can be implemented with appropriate modifications within the scope of the purpose of the present invention. .

<1. Beverages>
The beverage contains microbial powder, 20 to 80 mg/100 mL of sodium, and sugar alcohol. By adjusting the composition and the like of the beverage in this way, it is possible to obtain a beverage that suppresses the culture medium odor and suppresses the salty taste, and has a desirable flavor (tastiness) as a beverage.

The type of beverage is not particularly limited, and includes, for example, milk drinks, fruit juice/vegetable juice drinks, tea drinks, coffee drinks, functional drinks, sports drinks, and the like.

The degree of sweetness in a beverage is not particularly limited, and can be appropriately set depending on the type of beverage, etc. In addition, in this specification, the sweetness level refers to the sweetness level in terms of sucrose. The sweetness level is derived by calculating, for example, assuming that the sweetness level of 1% by weight/volume of sucrose is 1, and the concentration that yields the same sweetness as this sweetness level is set as the sucrose-equivalent sweetness level of the sweetener. The degree of sweetness of the beverage of the present invention is not particularly limited, but from the viewpoint of reducing salty taste, it is preferably from 2 to 10, more preferably from 3 to 7.

Hereinafter, the composition of the beverage of the present invention will be explained in detail.

[Microbial cell powder]
The beverage contains microbial cell powder. "Microbial cell powder" refers to powdered microbial cells, which is obtained by drying a microbial culture solution using methods and equipment known in the art to form a powder. Note that the drying method is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include spray drying, drum drying, hot air drying, vacuum drying, freeze drying, and the like.

The microbial cells are not particularly limited and include, for example, lactic acid bacteria cells, yeast cells, etc., but preferably lactic acid bacteria cells.

Lactic acid bacteria includes not only lactobacilli and lactic acid cocci but also bifidobacteria as lactic acid bacteria in a broad sense. Lactic acid bacteria are not limited as long as they are commonly used in foods and drinks, such as Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Leuconostoc. , the genus Lactococcus, the genus Pediococcus, the genus Enterococcus, the genus Streptococcus, the genus Weissella, and the like. Among these, bacterial cells of lactic acid bacteria belonging to the genus Lactobacillus are preferable from the viewpoint that functional research as a lactic acid bacteria powder has been actively conducted and there is a wealth of eating experience.

Examples of lactic acid bacteria belonging to the genus Lactobacillus include Lactobacillus amylovorus, Lactobacillus gasseri, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactobacillus fermentum, and Lactobacillus fermentum. Examples include Bacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus kefir, Lactobacillus paracasei, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus salivarius, Lactobacillus johnsonii, Lactobacillus crispatus, Lactobacillus gallinarum, and the like.

The bacterial strain used in the beverage may be any naturally isolated strain, deposited strain, preserved strain, commercially available strain, or the like. Moreover, one type of bacterial cells may be used, or two or more types may be used in combination.

The amount of microbial cell powder in the beverage is preferably 0.001 to 10 g/L, more preferably 0.01 to 5 g/L. Within this range, the microbial powder can be expected to have a physiologically active effect, and at the same time, it is likely to have a flavor improving effect.

Microbial cells can be grown and recovered by culturing microorganisms under commonly used conditions using a culture medium commonly used for culturing microorganisms.

The culture medium usually contains carbon sources, nitrogen sources, inorganic salts, other organic nutrients, and the like. Furthermore, any medium, either a natural medium or a synthetic medium, may be used as long as the medium can efficiently culture microorganisms. Specifically, as the carbon source, for example, lactose, glucose, sucrose, fructose, galactose, blackstrap molasses, etc. can be used. As the nitrogen source, organic nitrogen-containing substances such as casein hydrolyzate, whey protein hydrolyzate, soybean protein hydrolyzate, yeast extract, and meat extract can be used. As inorganic salts, for example, phosphates, sodium, potassium, magnesium, manganese, iron, zinc, etc. can be used. Other organic nutritional sources that can be used include, for example, amino acids such as glycine, alanine, serine, threonine, and proline, and vitamins such as vitamin B1, vitamin B12, and vitamin C.

Examples of media suitable for culturing lactic acid bacteria include MRS liquid medium, GAM medium, BL medium, Briggs Liver Broth, animal milk, skim milk, and milk whey. As the natural medium, tomato juice, carrot juice, other vegetable juices, apple, pineapple, grape juice, etc. can also be used.

The solvent for the culture medium is not particularly limited, and distilled water, ion-exchanged water, purified water, tap water, etc. can be used. Further, other conditions such as the pH of the culture medium, culture time, culture temperature, etc. are not particularly limited as long as they are suitable for the growth of microorganisms.

A culture solution containing microorganisms suitably cultured under the conditions described above can be pulverized and used as a microorganism cell powder.

Specifically, microbial cell powder is a "destroyed microorganism" product that damages the microbial cell structure by destroying the cell structure of the microorganism and makes it into a finer powder than the microorganism cell powder that is simply dried using methods such as freeze-drying. It may also be "fungal body powder". Destruction-treated microorganism cell powder is obtained by collecting the entire destroyed microorganism (that is, essentially all components constituting the cell) as is.

The microorganisms can be destroyed by physical crushing, grinding, enzymatic dissolution, chemical treatment, autolytic dissolution, or the like using methods and equipment known in the art. For example, the physical crushing treatment may be carried out either wet (processing the microbial cells in the form of a suspension) or dry (processing the microbial cells in the form of a powder), using a homogenizer, ball mill, bead mill, planetary mill, etc. Microbial cells can be damaged by stirring using a jet mill, French press, pressure using a cell crusher, etc., or by filter filtration. The thus destroyed microbial cell powder can be suitably used in beverages.

[sodium]
Beverages contain sodium. Sodium is a component that can improve the flavor (tastiness) of beverages. It is also an ingredient that adds a sufficient amount of minerals to drinks.

The sodium source is not particularly limited as long as it is normally added to foods and drinks, and includes sodium ascorbate, sodium chloride, sodium carbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate, trisodium citrate, sodium phosphate, sodium hydrogen phosphate, and sodium tartrate. , sodium salts such as sodium benzoate. Among these sodium sources, sodium chloride (salt) is preferred from the viewpoint of easy adjustment of flavor. Further, trisodium citrate is preferred from the viewpoint that it can be easily used for pH adjustment in addition to flavor adjustment. These sodium sources may be used alone or in combination.

The concentration of sodium in the beverage is 20 to 80 mg/100 ml, preferably 30 to 70 mg/100 ml, and more preferably 40 to 60 mg/100 ml. By adjusting the sodium concentration in the beverage to such a range, the flavor of the beverage can be improved while suppressing the salty taste using the sugar alcohol described below, and better taste can be achieved. Note that the concentration of sodium is the concentration of sodium derived from the sodium source blended in the beverage, and is not limited to the sodium salts mentioned above, but also the concentration of sodium derived from components other than sodium salts contained in the beverage. Also included.

The sodium concentration can be adjusted to the above value by adjusting the types and amounts of ingredients in the beverage, adding raw materials containing sodium salts, etc. When using a sodium salt, the amount added may be adjusted so that the sodium concentration when added to a beverage falls within the above range.

Note that the sodium concentration in the beverage can be calculated from the amount of added sodium salt, etc. in the beverage. Furthermore, it can be measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

[Sugar alcohol]
The beverage contains sugar alcohol. Sugar alcohols act to suppress medium odor and salty taste in beverages. In addition, since the beverage contains microbial cell powder, consumers may experience a rough sensation on the tongue due to the powder, but the inclusion of sugar alcohol also has the effect of suppressing the rough sensation. Note that this roughness will vary depending on the powder washing method, micronization processing method, etc., but even if powder containing variations in the method etc. is used, it can be improved by adding sugar alcohol. obtain.

Sugar alcohols are not particularly limited as long as they are commonly added to foods and drinks, and include monosaccharide alcohols such as erythritol, sorbitol, xylitol, and mannitol, disaccharide alcohols such as maltitol, isomaltitol, and lactitol, and maltitol. Examples include trisaccharide alcohols such as triitol, isomaltotriitol, and panitol, tetrasaccharide or higher alcohols such as oligosaccharide alcohols, and reduced maltose starch syrup. These sugar alcohols may be used alone or in combination.

Among these, it is preferable to contain at least maltitol as the sugar alcohol from the viewpoint of more effectively suppressing salty taste, medium odor, and roughness.

As the sugar alcohol, a solid preparation such as a powder or a liquid preparation may be used. As sugar alcohol preparations, for example, Marvit, Sweet NT, SE 20, SE 30, SE 57, SE 100 (manufactured by Bussan Food Science Co., Ltd.), etc. are commercially available, and can be suitably used. can. Note that SE and Marbit are registered trademarks of Bussan Food Science Co., Ltd.

The concentration of sugar alcohol in the beverage is preferably 2 to 40 g/L, more preferably 3 to 25 g/L in terms of solid content. When the concentration of the sugar alcohol is within this range, the effect of suppressing the odor and salty taste of the medium can be further enhanced, and the laxative effect of the sugar alcohol can be suppressed.

Further, the permeability of sugar alcohol (100 sucrose/per solid content) is preferably 40 to 350, more preferably 50 to 100. When the permeability of the sugar alcohol is within this range, the effect of suppressing culture medium odor can be further enhanced, and the flavor of the beverage can be improved. In addition, in this specification, osmoticity refers to the osmotic pressure of sugar alcohol when the osmotic pressure of sucrose is set to 100. Osmotic pressure may be measured using any known method, for example, by the freezing point depression method. As the measuring device, for example, an advanced automatic osmometer osmometer 3250 (ADVANCED INSTRUMENTS, INC.) can be used.

[Other ingredients]
Other raw materials and additives commonly used in general beverages can be appropriately blended into the beverage within a range that does not impede the effects. The blending amount can be appropriately set depending on the desired effect.

Ingredients that can be incorporated into beverages include the following; solvents (water, alcohol, etc.), sugars (fructose corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, sugar, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, etc.). monosaccharides and disaccharides), isomerized sugar (fructose-glucose liquid sugar, etc.), high-intensity sweeteners (stevia, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, etc.), fruit juices (lemon, aloe, orange, grape, apple, peach, etc.) , vegetable juice, emulsifier (sucrose fatty acid ester, lecithin, etc.), thickening stabilizer (soybean polysaccharide, pectin, carrageenan, gellan gum, xanthan gum, guar gum, etc.), antioxidant (tocopherol, cysteine hydrochloride, etc.), pigment (carotenoid) Pigments, anthocyanin pigments, caramel pigments, various synthetic colorants, etc.), fragrances (naringin, etc.), preservatives, preservatives, fungicides, vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin E, etc.), minerals (potassium, calcium, magnesium, etc.), dietary fiber, etc.

<2. Beverage characteristics>
The beverage has suppressed medium odor and suppressed salty taste, and has a desirable flavor (tastiness) as a beverage. The medium odor and salty taste of the beverage are evaluated by the method shown in the Examples.

<3. Beverage manufacturing method＞
The beverage can be obtained by appropriately adjusting the above ingredients. For example, a beverage can be obtained by adding predetermined amounts of each prepared raw material to a solvent sequentially or simultaneously, and mixing by stirring or the like. The blending ratio and mixing order of components and raw materials are not particularly limited.

The obtained beverage may be filled into containers, and may be appropriately sterilized before or after filling into containers.

<4. Method for masking medium odor and salty taste of beverages>
As mentioned above, by blending sugar alcohol into beverages, the effect of suppressing the culture medium odor caused by microbial cell powder and the effect of suppressing the salty taste caused by the relatively high content of sodium. It has an odor and salty taste masking effect. Therefore, the invention can also be defined as a method for masking the medium odor and salty taste of a beverage, which involves adding sugar alcohol to a beverage containing microbial cell powder and a predetermined concentration of sodium.

The present invention will be described below based on Examples, but the present invention is not limited to these Examples.

[Example 1] (Blending sugar alcohol)
A drink having the composition shown in Table 1 below was prepared. The unit of numerical values in the table is "g/L". The sodium concentration in the drink was adjusted by the amount of salt added. Each of the obtained beverages was heat sterilized and filled into containers. In addition, the sweetness of the beverages was adjusted to a sweetness level of 6 by adjusting the amounts of sugar and sugar alcohol preparation. Note that Marvit (manufactured by Bussan Food Science Co., Ltd.) was used as the sugar alcohol.

The following sensory evaluations were performed on the obtained beverages.

<Sensory evaluation>
After cooling each beverage to 20° C., it was subjected to sensory evaluation by an expert panel (5 people). Specifically, each beverage was scored for its saltiness, medium odor, roughness, aftertaste, and deliciousness, and the average value was calculated. did. In this evaluation, an example containing no sugar alcohol (Comparative Example 1) was used as a control product, and the reference value was set as 4 points.

"Intensity of salty taste", "Intensity of medium odor", and "Intensity of roughness" were evaluated on a 7-level scale using the following evaluation criteria.
7 points: Very strong 6 points: Strong 5 points: Slightly strong 4 points: Average 3 points: Slightly weak 2 points: Weak 1 point: Very weak

"Good aftertaste" and "tastiness" were evaluated on a 7-level scale using the following evaluation criteria.
7 points: Very good 6 points: Good 5 points: Somewhat good 4 points: Average 3 points: Somewhat bad 2 points: Bad 1 point: Very bad

Table 2 below shows the sensory evaluation results.

From the comparison between Comparative Example 1 in Table 2 and each Example, the addition of sugar alcohol suppresses all of the "salty taste," "medium odor," and "grainy feeling," and improves the "good aftertaste" and "tastiness." It was found that both were good. Furthermore, it was found that these effects increased as the amount of sugar alcohol added increased.

[Example 2] (Change of sodium concentration)
Beverages having the composition shown in Table 3 below were prepared and tested by changing the sodium concentration in the drinks. The unit of numerical values in the table is "g/L". The sodium concentration in the drinks was adjusted by changing the amount of salt added. Each of the obtained beverages was heat sterilized and filled into containers. In addition, the sweetness of the beverages was adjusted to a sweetness level of 6 by adjusting the amounts of sugar and sugar alcohol preparation. Note that Marvit (manufactured by Bussan Food Science Co., Ltd.) was used as the sugar alcohol.

The obtained beverage was subjected to the same sensory evaluation as in Example 1. In this evaluation, Reference Example 2 was used as a reference product (control product), and the standard value was set at 4 points.

Table 4 below shows the sensory evaluation results. Note that Example 2-2 in Table 4, Example 1-4 in Table 2, Reference Example 2 in Table 4, and Comparative Example 1 in Table 2 are the same drinks.

As shown in Table 4, from a comparison of Reference Example 1 and Example 2-1, Reference Example 2 and Example 2-2, and Reference Example 3 and Example 2-3, which have the same amount of sodium, sugar alcohol It was found that by incorporating it, all of the ``salty taste,'' ``medium odor,'' and ``grainy feeling'' were suppressed, and both the ``good aftertaste'' and ``tastiness'' were improved.

Note that, compared to Reference Example 4, which did not contain sodium, Examples 2-1 and 2-2, in which a sodium source was blended to a predetermined sodium concentration, had better "tastiness."

[Example 3] (Type of sugar alcohol)
Beverages having the composition shown in Table 5 below were prepared and tested using different types of sugar alcohol. The unit of numerical values in the table is "g/L". The sodium concentration in the drink was adjusted by the amount of salt added. Each of the obtained beverages was heat sterilized and filled into containers. In addition, the sweetness of the beverages was adjusted to a sweetness level of 6 by adjusting the amounts of sugar and sugar alcohol preparation.

Furthermore, different types of sugar alcohols were used in each example. Specifically, as shown in Table 3, Marvit, Sweet NT, SE 55, SE 20, SE 600, erythritol (all manufactured by Bussan Food Science Co., Ltd.), and xylitol (manufactured by DuPont) were used. .

The obtained beverage was subjected to the same sensory evaluation as in Example 1. In this evaluation, Comparative Example 1 was used as a comparison product (control product), and the standard value was set at 4 points.

Table 6 below shows the sensory evaluation results. Note that Example 3-1 in Table 6, Example 1-4 in Table 2, and Example 2-2 in Table 4 are the same beverage.

From the comparison between Comparative Example 1 in Table 6 and each Example, it can be seen that all of the "salty taste", "medium odor", and "gritty feeling" are suppressed, and "aftertaste is reduced" when any type of sugar alcohol preparation is used. It was found that both quality and taste were good.

It was also shown that the lower the permeability of the sugar alcohol added, the higher the flavor improvement effect.

[Example 4] (Type of lactic acid bacteria powder)
Beverages having the composition shown in Table 7 below were prepared and tested using different types of lactic acid bacteria powder. The unit of numerical values in the table is "g/L". The sodium concentration in the drink was adjusted by the amount of salt added. Each of the obtained beverages was heat sterilized and filled into containers. In addition, the sweetness of the beverages was adjusted to a sweetness level of 6 by adjusting the amounts of sugar and sugar alcohol preparation. Note that Marvit (manufactured by Bussan Food Science Co., Ltd.) was used as the sugar alcohol.

The obtained beverage was subjected to the same sensory evaluation as in Example 1. In this evaluation, Comparative Examples 2 and 3 were used as control products, and the standard value was set at 4 points.

Table 8 below shows the sensory evaluation results.

From the comparison between Comparative Example 2 and Example 4-1 and Comparative Example 3 and Example 4-2 in Table 8, it was found that no matter which type of lactic acid bacteria was used, "salty taste", "medium odor", and "roughness" were observed. It was found that both ``good aftertaste'' and ``tastiness'' were suppressed. These results confirmed that flavor improvement effects can be achieved by adding sugar alcohols to sodium-containing beverages, regardless of the bacterial species.

[Example 5] (Change of sodium source)
Beverages having the compositions shown in Table 9 below were prepared and tested by changing the sodium source added to the drinks. The unit of numerical values in the table is "g/L". The sodium concentration in the beverage was adjusted by changing the amount of the sodium source. Each of the obtained beverages was heat sterilized and filled into containers. In addition, the sweetness of the beverages was adjusted to a sweetness level of 6 by adjusting the amounts of sugar and sugar alcohol preparation. Note that Marvit (manufactured by Bussan Food Science Co., Ltd.) was used as the sugar alcohol.

The obtained beverage was subjected to the same sensory evaluation as in Example 1. In this evaluation, Comparative Example 4 was used as a comparison product (control product), and the reference value was set as 4 points.

Table 10 below shows the sensory evaluation results.

From the comparison between Comparative Example 4 and Example 5-1 in Table 10, even when trisodium citrate was used as the sodium source, all of the "salty taste", "medium odor", and "grainy feeling" were suppressed. It was found that both "good aftertaste" and "tastiness" were good. These results confirmed that flavor-improving effects can be achieved by incorporating sugar alcohols, regardless of the difference in sodium sources.

Claims (2)

A beverage containing microbial cell powder and 20 to 80 mg/100 mL of sodium,
The microbial cell powder is a lactic acid bacteria cell powder,
Contains sugar alcohols
The solid content concentration of the sugar alcohol in the beverage is 2 to 40 g/L,
A beverage containing at least one selected from the group consisting of monosaccharide alcohols, maltitol, lactitol, trisaccharide alcohols, and tetrasaccharide or higher sugar alcohols as the sugar alcohol (with the exception of beverages containing collagen peptides and milk). (excluding product lactic acid bacteria drinks and drinks containing milk oligosaccharides ). The beverage according to claim 1 , comprising at least maltitol as the sugar alcohol.