JPH04287659A - Low-calorie sweetening - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the subject solid low-calorie sweetening satisfying a permission standard as a special nutritive food and containing edible fibers. CONSTITUTION:A low-calorie sweetening composed of a solid matter at least containing maltitol, polydextrose and a sweetening having a high sweet rate and a low calorie of <=2kcal/g. The low-calorie sweetening in this invention is used as a sweetening in place of sugar, used, e.g. for prevention of plumpness and for prevention and therapy of adult diseases such as diabetes mellitus and cardic diseases and enable ready intake of edible fibers required for maintenance of health at the same time. The above-mentioned sweetening is remarkably important for daily life, clinic, etc., therefor. In addition, the sweetening in this invention shows effects such as easiness of the weighing and convenience of the portability because of its solid state.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a novel low calorie sweetener. More specifically, the present invention relates to a low-calorie sweetener that has a sweetness that can replace sugar and meets the standards for approval of special nutritional foods set by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

0002

[Prior Art] Advances in nutrition, relative decrease in amount of exercise,
In addition, due to the growing interest in health, recent eating habits have changed dramatically compared to the past. In particular, the response to people's desires, such as calorie restriction and disease prevention, has been remarkable. Calorie restriction has become a serious and urgent problem not only for people suffering from obesity but also for ordinary people in order to prevent adult diseases such as diabetes and heart disease caused by excessive calorie intake. is being carried out. One of these is the use of low-calorie artificial sweeteners to replace sugar. Among these artificial sweeteners, the ones that are approved as "low calorie sweeteners" by the Ministry of Health and Welfare as special nutritional foods are:
It is only reduced maltose (maltitol). Maltitol, which was conventionally used as an indigestible sugar that does not provide energy, has recently been fermented by Escherichia coli to produce organic acids (acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, etc.), and these organic acids are absorbed from the large intestine. It became clear that maltitol can be used as an energy source, calling into question the energy value of maltitol as an indigestible saccharide. 199
An international symposium "Energy evaluation of indigestible sugars" was held in January 2007, and the current energy evaluation of maltitol ranges from 0.4 kcal per gram to approximately 2.0 kcal per gram.
Corrected to kilocalories. Currently, the approval standard for low-calorie food as a special nutritional food is defined as having a calorie content of 50% or less of the content of normal similar foods, and the sweetness level of maltitol is 0.8 (sugar is added to As a result, low-calorie sweeteners made from maltitol have been forced to be reconsidered. On the other hand, a characteristic trend in Japan's dietary habits in recent years is that the intake of grain foods has decreased, and in its place the intake of high-calorie fatty foods and refined processed foods has increased. In particular, an increase in the intake of highly refined foods leads to a decrease in the intake of indigestible dietary fiber, resulting in obesity due to excess energy intake. As a result, it not only causes constipation but also many non-infectious intestinal diseases, diabetes, gallstones, and other adult diseases. For this reason, people are calling for a review of their dietary habits from the perspective of preventing obesity-adult diseases, and the importance of consuming dietary fiber is being reaffirmed.

0003

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, the necessity of consuming foods and drinks that are low in calories and contain a lot of dietary fiber has been loudly advocated. There were high hopes for the development. Under such circumstances, the present inventors have developed a low-calorie sweetener that can easily and easily ingest the above-mentioned dietary fiber necessary for maintaining health in daily life, and also meets the approval standards for special nutritional foods. I have been considering it many times. According to Hans H., polydextrose is the most suitable dietary fiber that can be advantageously used in sweeteners. Rennhard U.S. Patent No. 3,766,16
As a result of intensive research based on the findings from No. 5, we have developed a liquid low-calorie sweetener containing maltitol and polydextrose as main ingredients that can achieve the above objectives, and have already applied for a patent. Although liquid sweeteners have excellent solubility, it is difficult to package them in fixed amounts. Therefore,
Liquid sweeteners are inconvenient to carry, and it is also difficult to accurately measure the amount of sweetener used for calculating calories, so solid sweeteners are more advantageous. From this point of view, we investigated a solid low-calorie sweetener containing maltitol and polydextrose as main ingredients, and completed the present invention. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a solid low-calorie sweetener that contains dietary fiber and meets the standards for approval as a special nutritional food.

0004

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention, which has been made to achieve the above object, provides a low-calorie sweetener comprising a solid agent having a calorific value of 2 kilocalories or less per gram and containing at least maltitol and polydextrose. It is. In the present invention, the term "solid agent" refers to agents other than liquid agents, such as granules, powders, and tablets. The present invention has the above-mentioned structure, and in order to meet the standards for approval of low-calorie sweeteners as special nutritional foods, the sweetness level of ordinary similar foods is maintained, and the calorie content is adjusted to 2 kilocalories or less per 1 g. Polydextrose, a dietary fiber (
Contains heat: 1 kilocalorie/g, sweetness level 0).

[0005] In the low-calorie sweetener of the present invention, the sweetening component is mainly composed of maltitol, but the total calorific value including the calorific value of other ingredients needs to be adjusted to 2 kilocalories or less per 1 g. Therefore, the content of maltitol in the sweetener of the present invention is about 15 to 35% (wt%, hereinafter the same applies unless otherwise specified), preferably about 20 to 30%. The sweetness level of maltitol is 0
．． Since the sweetness level is about 8, the sweetness level is adjusted using a high-intensity sweetener to make the sweetness level equal to or higher than that of ordinary similar foods. As the high-intensity sweetener used here, any low-calorie high-intensity sweetener can be used, such as stevioside,
Examples of enzyme-treated products include rebaudioside, aspartame, thaumatin, and glycyrrhizin, but from the standpoint of taste, stevioside (calorific value: 0, sweetness level: approximately 150) or thaumatin (calorific value: 0, sweetness level: approximately 3000)
are preferably used, and it is particularly preferable to use both in combination. In addition, as stevioside, stevia extract (i.e.
Plant Stevia rebaudiana Berto
A glycoside mixture containing stevioside as a main component (so-called stevia sweetener), which is an extract from leaves of Ni, etc., may be used. These high-intensity sweeteners are adjusted to have a sweetness level equal to or higher than that of ordinary similar foods when used in combination with other sweetening ingredients contained in the sweetener of the present invention. The content of the high-intensity sweetener in the sweetener of the present invention depends on the desired sweetness, the sweetness of the high-intensity sweetener used, etc., but is usually about 0.5 to 4%, preferably about 0.5% to 4%. is said to be about 1 to 2%.

[0006] In the sweetener of the present invention, the content of polydextrose, which is a dietary fiber, is adjusted as appropriate depending on the desired dietary fiber content and restrictions on the total calorific value of the sweetener of the present invention. It is about 15 to 60%, preferably about 20 to 40%. If the content of polydextrose is less than 15%, the effect of adding dietary fiber will not be expressed, and if it exceeds 60%, it will be difficult to meet the limit on the total calorific value of the sweetener of the present invention, and the hygroscopicity will become high. Undesirable.

[0007] To the sweetener of the present invention, excipients may be added as necessary in order to adjust the total amount of heat and sweetness, and to meet the requirements of the formulation. As the excipient, any edible, water-soluble, low-calorie substance can be used, but preferably a low-calorie sweetener, particularly preferably erythritol (calorific value: 0.4 kcal/g, sweetness level: 0). .8) is used. Erythritol is also preferred because it is a non-cariogenic sweetener. The content of such excipients is as follows:
It is about 20 to 55%, preferably about 35 to 50%.

[0008] The sweetener of the present invention is preferably adjusted so that the sweetness is twice that of sugar and the calorific value per 1 g is 1 kilocalorie. By adjusting in this way, calorific value calculation becomes easy. . In other words, it can be easily calculated that a person who used to use 6g of sugar can get the same sweetness with 3g, which is half that amount, and that the amount of calories in doing so is 3 kilocalories.

[0009] The sweetener of the present invention has a calorific value of 2 kilocalories or less per gram and has a sweet taste by appropriately blending maltitol, polydextrose, a high-intensity sweetener, and, if necessary, an excipient and a binder. After adjusting the concentration to be equal to or higher than that of ordinary similar foods, it is prepared into a solid dosage form using a formulation method. For example, the dosage form is
Although it can be provided in various forms such as granules, tablets, and powders, granules are preferred from the viewpoint of dissolution rate and moisture resistance. These formulations can be prepared using conventional formulation methods, but granules are preferably prepared using a fluidized bed granulation method. That is, polydextrose, which is a component of the sweetener of the present invention, has high hygroscopicity and strong stickiness, so it is difficult to prepare granules by extrusion granulation or stirring granulation using an aqueous binder. However, according to the fluidized bed granulation method, such problems can be avoided and granules can be efficiently prepared. Such fluidized bed granulation can be carried out according to a conventional method. For example, polydextrose, maltitol, excipients, etc. are placed in a fluidized bed granulation dryer, and heated air at an appropriate temperature is blown up to make them fluid. However, if necessary, by spraying a binder liquid to which auxiliary agents such as gelatin are added, granulation is carried out, and after the spraying is completed, it is blown up with warm air to dry it, and the desired fraction is separated by sieving.
Granules are obtained. Since the sweetener of the present invention is hygroscopic, it is preferably packaged in predetermined portions using moisture-proof packaging materials. The sweetener of the present invention thus obtained is used as a sweetener for various foods.

[0010] The present invention will be explained in more detail below based on Examples, but the present invention is not limited to these Examples. Example 1 Fluidized bed granulation dryer (manufactured by Okawara Seisakusho, Flow Coater FL)
A granular low-calorie sweetener (calorific value: 100 kilocalories/100 g, sweetness level: 2) having the following formulation was prepared using 0-5). Powdered polydextrose 3000g Powdered maltitol 2675g Powdered erythritol 4125g Powdered stevioside 100g Powdered thaumatin 100g To explain the manufacturing method in more detail, first, the above predetermined amounts of powdered stevioside and powdered thaumatin were mixed in hot water (300ml).
1) to prepare a binder solution. On the other hand, the predetermined amounts of powdered polydextrose, powdered maltitol, and powdered erythritol were placed in a fluidized bed granulation dryer, and while being blown up and fluidized with warm air (set temperature 60°C), the binder liquid was sprayed to form the powder. Granulated (spray time: 90
minutes). After the spraying was completed, it was blown up with warm air to dry it (drying time: 30 minutes). After drying, it was sieved and a 16-50 mesh fraction was separated. The low calorie sweetener thus obtained had a good flavor.

Example 2 A granular low-calorie sweetener (calorific value: 100 kilocalories/100 g, sweetness level: 2.2) having the following formulation was prepared in substantially the same manner as in Example 1. Mixed powdered polydextrose 4764g Powdered maltitol 2018g Powdered erythritol 3000g Powdered stevioside 118g Powdered thaumatin 100g

[
Example 3 A granular low-calorie sweetener (calorific value: 100 kilocalories/100 g, sweetness level: 2.5) having the following formulation was prepared in substantially the same manner as in Example 1. Mixed powdered polydextrose 1564g Powdered maltitol 3218g Powdered erythritol 5000g Powdered stevioside 118g Powdered thaumatin 100g

[
Example 4 To 1000 g of the mixture consisting of the formulation shown in Example 1,
50 g of 80% ethanol was added as a binder, and an appropriate amount of Avicel as a binding agent and sucrose fatty acid ester as a mold release agent were added and stirred. ) was prepared as a low calorie sweetener.

[0014]

[Effects of the Invention] The low-calorie sweetener of the present invention has a calorific value of 2 kilocalories or less per gram and satisfies the standards for approval as a special nutritional food. Therefore, the low calorie sweetener of the present invention can be used as a sweetener in place of sugar.
It is used to prevent obesity and to prevent and treat adult diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, and it is extremely useful in daily life and clinical practice, as it can be easily ingested with the dietary fiber necessary for maintaining health. It is. Moreover, since the sweetener of the present invention is in solid form, it is easy to measure and can be packaged in fixed amounts, making it convenient to carry.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A low-calorie sweetener, which has a calorific value of 2 kilocalories or less per gram and is a solid agent containing at least maltitol, polydextrose, and a high-intensity sweetener. 2. The low-calorie sweetener according to claim 1, which contains stevioside or thaumatin as the high-intensity sweetener. [Claim 3] The sweetness level is twice that of sugar,
Claim 1 or 2, wherein the calorific value per 1 g is 1 kilocalorie.
Low calorie sweeteners listed. 4. The low-calorie sweetener according to claim 1, which additionally contains erythritol. [Claim 5] Claim 1, wherein the dosage form is granular.
4. The low calorie sweetener according to any one of 4.