JPH02291244A - Raw material for food or medicine and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a raw material reduced in bitter taste, having excellent absorption-suppressing action of sugar in intenstinal tract, insoluble glucan production-inhibiting action, etc., and suitable for healthy food and medicine by adding and absorbing chitosan into extract of Gymnema Sylvestre. R. Br. CONSTITUTION:Dried leaf of Gymnema Sylvestre. R. Br. (hereinafter referred to as GS) is extracted with water or water-containing ethanol and the extracted liquid is concentrated and, as necessary, dried and pulverized. The chitosan obtained by deacetylating chitin contained in crab, lobster, etc., is added to the resultant extracted material and bitter taste ingredient of Gymnema Sylvestre. R. Br. extracted material is absorbed into chitosan to reduce bitter taste in the extent without hindrance on taste. Furthermore, amount of chitosan added is preferably about 100 to 700 pts.wt. based on 100 pts.wt. (expressed in terms of solid content) of GS extracted material. The resultant raw material composition is preferably used as a raw material for cake, bread, SOBA (buckwheat noodle), instant soap or other healthy food or various kind of medicines orally administered.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a food or pharmaceutical raw material and a method for producing the same, and more specifically, chitosan, which is a deacetylated product of chitin, is added to Gymnema sylvestre extract, which has a strong bitter taste. The present invention relates to a food or pharmaceutical raw material whose intense bitterness is reduced or eliminated by the addition of the present invention, and a method for producing the same.

[Conventional technology] Gymnema sylvestre (
Gynnema Sylvestre, R.
B r. ; hereinafter abbreviated as 1GS) is a plant belonging to the family Asclepiadaceae that grows naturally in tropical and subtropical regions such as India, China, Southeast Asia, and Africa. This GS has been used as a folk remedy for diabetes since ancient times in India, and the dried leaves were generally used and eaten. This GS not only has an effect on diabetes because it suppresses the absorption of sugar in the intestinal tract, but also has the effect of suppressing sweet taste and inhibiting the production of insoluble glucan caused by the intake of sugar, which is the cause of tooth decay. Confirmed. However, their mechanism of action was not clear.

In recent years, it has been recognized that the sweet taste suppressing effect of GS, the sugar absorption suppressing effect in the intestinal tract, etc. are due to the unique physiological action of gymnemic acid, which is an active ingredient of GS. This gymnemic acid has homologues A1 to A4, and its basic structure is gymnemagenin (3β, 16β, 21β,
22α, 23. 28-hexahydroxyoleane-
It is a glycoside consisting of a derivative of D-12ene) and D-glucuronic acid. Furthermore, the hydroxyl group of triterpenes is esterified with various organic acids, and the types of organic acids are different homologues.

After GS dried leaves are collected from their natural habitat, they are generally distributed in bags, but it is not uncommon for them to be contaminated with impurities or impurities, or for their quality to deteriorate during storage. In addition, soil is often contaminated with microorganisms and bacteria.

Therefore, there are problems not only when using GS dried leaves as they are, but also when processing them.

Therefore, attempts have been made to extract gymnemic acid and the like from dried GS leaves and use the resulting GS extract. To obtain the GS extract, extract with water or
It has been proposed to extract with hydrous alcohol as described in Japanese Patent No. 248591. When GS dried leaves are extracted with hydrous alcohol or the like, an extract containing gymnemic acid and its homologs, tannins, organic acids, chlorophyll, etc. contained in the GS dried leaves is obtained. moreover,
When this is dried, a pale yellow-green powder is obtained.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the GS extract obtained by extracting dried GS leaves with water or aqueous ethanol has a strong bitter taste even when taken at a dose of 2 to 3 my, causing an abnormality in taste and making it difficult to taste the sweetness of sugar. You won't feel it at all, and this phenomenon will last for several minutes. This phenomenon is said to be due to the paralysis of only the gustatory function on the surface of the tongue that detects sweetness.

This is an undesirable phenomenon when GS extracts are added to food for processing or used for pharmaceutical purposes, and there are many requests for the use of GS extracts in food and pharmaceutical manufacturing, especially in the food field. However, this is the reason why it cannot be used.

As a method to eliminate such bitterness of GS extract, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 84-2552 proposes a method of adding starch to GS extract. It was difficult to say that it was an effective method to eliminate the problem to such a high level. There is also a method of adsorbing GS extracts to specific inorganic substances, but this method has been shown to be effective to a certain extent in improving bitterness, but there are regulations when adding inorganic substances to food, and inorganic substances The disadvantage is that the use of and the amount of use thereof is limited.

Therefore, as mentioned above, although GS extracts are promising as raw materials for foods and medicines, the present situation is that they have not been put into practical use due to their bitter taste.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a food or pharmaceutical raw material that reduces or eliminates the bitterness of the extract to a practical level and does not cause side effects or impair the effects of the GS extract, and a method for producing the same.

[Means for Solving the Problems] As a result of various studies in line with the above objectives, the present inventor added chitosan obtained by deacetylating chitin to a GS extract obtained by concentrating an extract of dried GS leaves. The present inventors have discovered that, by adding these compounds, the bitterness can be reduced to such an extent that there is no bitterness or there is no problem in use, and the present invention has been achieved.

That is, the present invention resides in a food or pharmaceutical raw material characterized by containing a Gymnema sylvestre (GS) extract and chitosan.

The GS extract referred to in the present invention refers to an extracted concentrate obtained by extracting dried GS leaves with water or aqueous ethanol and concentrating the resulting extract containing gymnemic acid, etc., or a concentrated extract obtained by drying and powdering this. Refers to extracted powder.

As a method for extracting such GS extract, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 82
The method described in Japanese Patent No. 248591 is exemplified.

A specific extraction method is, for example, after weighing the dried GS leaves from which foreign substances have been removed, they are washed with water, extracted with approximately 50% ethanol three times, and after recovering ethanol from the extract using a conventional method, they are concentrated. Alternatively, the extracted concentrate is dried or spray-dried to obtain an extracted powder. For this drying, low temperature heating drying, spray drying, etc. are preferably employed.

Since the raw material is a natural product, the yield of the extract obtained by the above operation varies depending on the harvest time and growing location. In general, when 50% alcohol is used for the extract, the GS extract (solid to solid content) is 25 to 35 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of dried GS leaves, and when hot water is used for the extract. yields 17 to 23 parts by weight of GS extract (solid content) per 100 parts by weight of dried GS leaves.

In the present invention, chitosan is added and adsorbed to this GS extract.

Chitosan is a natural polymeric substance obtained by deacetylating chitin (poly N-acetyl-β-D-glucosamine) found in the outer shells of crabs, shrimps, etc.
- Glucosamine exists as a natural product, is edible as a biological component, and is extremely safe, as it is being considered as a raw material for absorbable surgical sutures.

Furthermore, since it is biodegradable, it can release gymnemic acid in the GS extract adsorbed in the gastrointestinal tract. Chitosan is used in large quantities industrially as a water treatment flocculant to collect polymeric substances and adsorb heavy metals. It also forms ammonium salts in acid solutions and is a unique natural product that exhibits cationic properties. It is a substance that has certain properties. By adding this chitosan, the bitter components of the GS extract are efficiently adsorbed, and the bitterness is reduced to an extent that does not affect the taste.

The degree of deacetylation of chitosan used in the present invention is not particularly limited, and is preferably 80 to 90% on average, particularly preferably 85 to 90%.

The specific method of adding this chitosan is to dissolve commercially available chitosan in dilute acid such as about 5% acetic acid to form a viscous liquid, add GS extraction concentrate or extracted powder to this, and thoroughly knead it. dry. The concentration of dilute acid does not necessarily have to be around 5%, but if the mixture is soft, it can be as high as 10%.
% or higher concentration of acetic acid may be used.

The blending ratio of the GS extraction concentrate or extracted powder and the chitosan to be adsorbed is preferably 100 to 700 parts by weight of chitosan per 100 parts by weight of the GS extract (solid content).
More preferably, 500 to 700 parts by weight is appropriate from the viewpoint of reducing bitterness and usage capacity.

If the amount of chitosan is less than 100 parts by weight, the effect of reducing bitterness will be small, while if it exceeds 700 parts by weight, problems such as increased economy and capacity will occur.

In this way, the food or pharmaceutical raw material of the present invention is obtained, and this raw material can contain various additives such as a reducing agent within a range that does not impair the effects of the present invention.

The raw material of the present invention is suitable as a food raw material, such as confectionery such as Japanese sweets and Western confectionery; bread; processed grains such as soba noodles and spaghetti; instant soup, instant stew, juice, or other health foods. In addition to being used, it can also be used as a raw material for various drugs that are administered orally.

[Effect of the invention] The food or pharmaceutical raw material of the present invention containing Gymnema sylvestre (GS) extract and chitosan has bitterness reduced to a practically sufficient level, and chitosan is highly safe and biodegradable. Due to its nature, Gymnema sylvestre naturally inhibits sugar absorption in the intestinal tract, suppresses sweet taste,
Alternatively, it is possible to fully exhibit the effect of inhibiting the production of insoluble glucan caused by the intake of sugar, which is the cause of dental caries.

Therefore, the present invention is expected to be used not only as an additive for foods, especially health foods, but also as an additive for pharmaceuticals and their additives.

[Examples] The present invention will be specifically described below based on Examples and Experimental Examples.

Example I GS dried leaf log was extracted three times with 100 d of 50% ethanol, and the filtrate was evaporated to dryness to obtain 2.6 g of GS extracted powder.

To this, chitosan (TN chitosan: degree of deacetylation 90%
, Nippon Rikagaku Yakuhin ■) was added and kneaded until a uniform color tone was obtained. When 526 acetic acid was gradually added without further kneading, the mixture gradually became viscous. At this time, the pH was about 4.0.

This mixture was dried at 40 to 50°C, then ground and filtered to obtain the desired raw material powder. The powder had almost no bitter taste during the day.

Example 2 The extracted filtrate obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 was concentrated to about 10 d
30 g of chitosan was added to this and mixed until uniform. 5% acetic acid was gradually added to the mixture and thoroughly kneaded to obtain a viscous slurry. The pH at this time was about 4.0. When a small amount of sodium hydrogen carbonate was uniformly added as a powder while kneading the mixture, the mixture gradually lost its viscosity and no longer adhered to the wall of the kneader. Note that the amount of sodium hydrogen carbonate added was stopped when the pH reached 8.5 to 7.0.

This mixture was spread thinly and dried at 40-45°C. At this time, if the drying temperature was high, the surface would turn brown, so vacuum drying was performed. The powder obtained by grinding after drying did not taste bitter at all.

Experimental Example 1 The powdered raw material obtained in Example 1 was administered to mice, and an acute toxicity test was conducted. The mice used were 5-week-old male ICR mice, which were bred in a conventional manner, and after 7 days of acclimatization, their health was confirmed and used for the experiment. 2.5 g of the above powdered raw material was weighed and put into a measuring cylinder, and physiological saline containing 196 CM C was added to make a total volume of 20 II dl to prepare a solution of L25 m9/rd, which was used as a test solution.

The test solution was administered once by forced oral administration using a stainless steel metal probe. Administration volume is 4 2 0 0 1
119/ In case of KFI let lmj! / 30
g weight, if 2100m97Kg, 0.5m/
It was set to 30g.

The observation period for symptoms was 7 days after administration, and the presence or absence of death and general symptoms of the mice were observed continuously on the day of administration until 1 hour after administration, then every 30 minutes until 4 hours after administration, and from the next day onwards for 1 day. Observations were made twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The mortality rate of these mice is shown in Table 1.

Body weight was measured immediately before administration and 1, 2, 4, and 6 days after administration, and the changes in body weight are shown in Table 2.

As a result, as shown in Table 1, 4200 m'j/K
No death was observed after administration of LD5.9. The value is 4200f
It was more than fig/Kg. Furthermore, as shown in Table 2, no increase in body weight was observed in any of the administration groups. No general symptoms were observed immediately after administration, and no abnormalities were observed in the autopsy findings by visual inspection.

From this, the acute toxicity of the powdered raw material of the present invention when administered orally to mice was extremely weak, and its safety was confirmed.

Table 2 Experimental Example 2 The powder raw material obtained in Example 1 was used as an ice cream raw material,
It was added to chocolate raw materials, bun raw materials, spaghetti raw materials, and instant soup raw materials to produce ice cream, chocolate, buns, spaghetti, and instant soup, respectively.

When these foods were eaten, there was no unpleasant taste such as bitterness, and the original flavor of each food could be enjoyed.

Patent applicant: Deutsche Yakuhin Co., Ltd. Agent: Patent Attorney Tatsuo Ito Agent: Patent Attorney Tetsuya Ito

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A food or pharmaceutical raw material characterized by containing a Gymnema sylvestre extract and chitosan. 2. A method for producing a food or pharmaceutical raw material, which comprises adding and adsorbing chitosan to a Gymnema sylvestre extract.