JPH08136500A - Food quality judging method and redox potential measuring method for food - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To precisely judge the quality of a food by correcting redox potential measured value of the food to be a numerical value by a standard hydrogen electrode and judging that the food is higher quality in the case the numerical value is closer to the minimum and the food is more deteriorated in the case the numerical value is closer to the maximum. CONSTITUTION: Redox potential of a food is measured by putting an electrode 3 of a redox potentiometer 2 in an aqueous solution 1 of, for example at food to be measured. In the case the obtained potential measured value is corrected to be a numerical value by a standard hydrogen electrode, the food is determined to have higher reductive power as the value is closer to -420mV, which is the redox potential of hydrogen, and the food is determined to have higher oxidative power as the value is closer to +815mV, which is the redox potential of oxygen. At the time of measurement, a liquid food is judged as it is and a solid food is made to be suspended state by uniformly suspending the food in pure water by a mixer and judged. Consequently, only by measuring the redox potential of a food, the reductive power of the food can be measured and the quality of the food can be judged. That is, the food whose redox potentialis closer to -420-mV has higher quality and foods having minus potential are especially preferable.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for determining the quality of food and a method for measuring the redox potential of the food for determining the quality.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, foods having health-oriented elements such as health foods and natural foods have become widespread in the general market with a fashion sense as well as treatment and prevention of diseases. As a method of determining the quality of such foods, for example, a method of distinguishing foods by calories, or dividing the nutritional components of foods into nutrients such as proteins, calcium, carotene, vitamins and minerals, carbohydrate energy sources, lipid energy sources, etc. For example, a method of classifying the food according to which it corresponds to has been used for a long time.

In addition to the above, there is a method of distinguishing foods having general versatility by classifying foods into alkaline foods and acidic foods. This method measures the pH (hydrogen ion concentration) of the ash after incineration of food, and if the pH is on the basic side, it is alkaline food, and if the pH shows acid, it is acidic food, The degree (or basicity) is used as a scale to judge that eating alkaline foods is good for your health. There are also foods called antioxidant foods such as foods containing vitamin C and vitamin E.

[0004]

However, the above conventional method for discriminating that the alkaline food is good by dividing the food into the alkaline food and the acidic food cannot be said to be a very effective discrimination method at present. The reason is that the pH value in the body is, for example, 1.2 to 3.0 for gastric fluid and 7.9 for colon fluid.
8.0, erythrocyte is 7.28, which varies depending on cells and body fluids, and works to keep pH constant by physiological and chemical regulation functions for organic acids and carbon dioxide gas that are constantly generated in the body. Even if ingested, it does not make the living body acidic. Therefore, it is generally accepted that the division of food into acidic food / alkali raw food does not have much biochemical meaning.

Further, even if it is meaningful to measure the acidity and the like, it alone is not a sufficient scale for judging how good the food is for health. In addition, when measuring the acidity of food, the food must be incinerated into ash, which is not easy to measure.

Further, even if vitamins C and E have antioxidative power, there has been no conventional scale for concretely indicating how much they are. Furthermore, even if the content of vitamin C or E in the food is measured, it can be easily measured if it is in a pure state, but when it is in a state of being actually cooked In addition, it is not easy to accurately measure the content of vitamins C and E in foods containing various ingredients. The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object thereof is to provide a new scale capable of accurately determining the quality of food, and a method for easily measuring the scale. .

The present inventor has used the oxidation-reduction potential (Oxidation-
The present invention has been completed by paying attention to reduction potential (hereinafter, also referred to as ORP for short).

[0008]

That is, the method for judging the quality of food according to the present invention is to measure the oxidation-reduction potential of the food and correct the oxidation-reduction potential to the value of a standard hydrogen electrode to obtain -420.
When plotted within the range of mV and +815 mV, it is judged that the closer the value is to -420 mV, the better the reducing power is, and the closer it is to +815 mV, the worse the food is.

Further, the method for measuring the redox potential of food according to the present invention is to measure the redox potential of a food by putting the electrode of a redox potentiometer in the solution after the food is in an aqueous solution state. It is characterized by that.

The present invention will be described in more detail below. The relationship between the redox potential of food and health is as follows. Normally, the organs in the living body are in a state of being rich in reducing power, but humans are aerobic organisms that require oxygen, and the living body is always forced to be oxidized by oxygen. As the oxidation of the living body progresses, humans fall into an unhealthy body, aging is promoted, and diseases are easily induced. The cause of such oxidation is said to be active oxygen and free radicals generated in the living body, but these oxidizing factors are also indispensable for protecting the body from external enemies such as bacteria and viruses.
However, it is good when the above-mentioned active oxygen and free radicals are generated as needed, but if they are always generated, they will act not only by external enemies but also by targeting their own cells etc. to cause damage. Then, the living tissue progresses to an oxidative state, and the reducing power of each organ decreases. From this, it is considered that oxidation / reduction has a deep relationship with health.

[0011] For example, if a food having strong oxidizing power is taken for a long period of time, a large amount of active oxygen and free radicals are produced, and the body is oxidized and becomes unhealthy. On the other hand, if the dietary intake of foods with reducing power is continued, a healthy body is maintained and the body that has been oxidized and destroyed returns to a state of being rich in reducing power. The oxidizing and reducing powers of foods are measured by an oxidation-reduction potentiometer using a silver / silver chloride electrode, and when the values are corrected to those of a standard hydrogen electrode, the closer to −420 mV which is the oxidation-reduction potential of hydrogen, the closer ,
It is possible to determine that the food has a reducing power, and that the closer the redox potential is to +815 mV which is the redox potential of oxygen, the stronger the oxidizing power is. Therefore, it is possible to measure the reducing power of foods and determine the quality thereof by a simple operation of measuring the redox potential of foods. As described above, the oxidative power and the reducing power of a food are judged by the measurement of the redox potential according to the discrimination method of the present invention, and if it is used as a guideline for ingesting a food having a reducing power as much as possible, it is possible to maintain a healthy life. Can be one means. For example, as a specific application example of the method of the present invention, when a food manufacturer or the like controls the quality of processed foods in the health food industry, it can be used as a means for measuring the redox potential and checking the reducing power of foods. .

FIG. 1 shows the oxidation-reduction potential of various foodstuffs measured in the examples described later and corrected to the standard electrode potential, and the oxidation-reduction potential is -420 mV to +8 on the horizontal axis.
It is plotted during 15 mV. According to the research conducted by the present inventors on the measurement of redox potential of foods, as is clear from FIG. 1, for example, foods having reducing power are raw vegetables, mixed broth of vegetables, offal such as liver and the like. In addition, examples of nutraceutical foods include chlorella, yellow pine bamboo, and reduced water. On the contrary, soft drinks are good foods that have strong oxidizing power.
Examples include tap water, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, chemicals, processed foods, foods containing food additives, and the like. When the redox potential of food is corrected to the value of the standard hydrogen electrode, the closer it is to -420 mV, the better the food is. However,-(minus) is particularly preferable.
It has a redox potential of. The above-mentioned yellow pine-bamboo is the natural salt packed in a container such as a bamboo tube, pine needles, moxa, and the like.
Baked at ~ 2000 ° C (Japanese Patent Application No. 5-326134)
No.), which is a product name marketed by High Mail Co., Ltd.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing an example of the method for measuring the redox potential of food according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the method for measuring the redox potential of a food is as follows. First, prepare an aqueous solution 1 (or a dispersion liquid in which the food is dispersed in water) of the food for which the redox potential is to be measured, and then perform the redox. It is obtained by putting the electrode 3 of the electrometer 2 in the aqueous solution 1 (or the dispersion liquid) and measuring the potential. A commercially available redox potentiometer can be used. A commercially available device for measuring redox potential generally uses two electrodes, a platinum electrode and a silver / silver chloride electrode, which are placed in a sample solution in which food is dispersed, and the displayed potential is stabilized. Then, read the measurement value. Then, the measured value of the electrode potential (generally mV unit) obtained at this time can be corrected to the value of the platinum / hydrogen electrode to obtain the redox potential of the food.

The apparatus used for measuring the redox potential can be used as long as it has the above-mentioned electrode and a device for displaying the electrode potential. The measurement accuracy is about 1 mV in resolution and 1 mV in repeatability. A device having about ± 1 digit or more is preferable. As such a device, a commercially available portable pH meter “H” manufactured by Toa Denpa Kogyo Co., Ltd.
"M-11P" and the like.

The sample to be measured when the redox potential is measured may be adjusted appropriately according to the form of the food. For example, foods with high water content such as water, tea, soft drinks, and broth can be measured as they are without any particular adjustment. If the food has a low water content, the food may be dispersed in pure water with a mixer or the like to form a uniform dispersion liquid.

[0016]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below. Table 1
~ Various foods shown in Table 6 were measured with an oxidation-reduction potentiometer, and the obtained oxidation-reduction potential was converted into the value of a standard hydrogen electrode. The measurement conditions for measuring the redox potential are shown below. [Preparation of Sample] The sample liquid for measuring the redox potential was measured as it was when the food was liquid. Further, when the food was a solid, a dispersion liquid dispersed in pure water with a mixer was used. [Measurement of oxidation-reduction potential] A portable pH meter "HM-11P" manufactured by Toa Denpa Kogyo Co., Ltd. was used as an oxidation-reduction potential meter, and a silver-silver chloride composite electrode (PTS-2019) was used as an electrode.
C) was used. The electrode of the oxidation-reduction potentiometer was dipped in the sample solution, and the displayed value of the electrometer was displayed as mv, and the place where the numerical value became stable was read. The temperature of the sample liquid measured at the same time was measured, and the potential of the reference electrode corresponding to the temperature was added to obtain the redox potential.

[0017]

[Table 1]

[0018]

[Table 2]

[0019]

[Table 3]

[0020]

[Table 4]

[0019]

[Table 5]

[0022]

[Table 6]

The results of Tables 1 to 6 are summarized as shown in FIG. As shown in Tables 1 to 6 and FIG. 1, these results show the following. There are few foods that have a negative ORP or a large negative value. Further, natto, grated radish, etc. are foods having an ORP value close to -420 mV and a large reducing power as compared with other foods, which proves that they have been conventionally considered good for health. Also, although fresh vegetables have a relatively high reducing power, the ORP decreases with time, which proves that fresh vegetables are better for the body.

[0024]

As described above, the method for judging the quality of food according to the present invention is the conventional method for judging the quality based on the potential obtained by measuring the redox potential of the food. It is possible to judge whether the food is good or bad for the body by a clear measure of the reducing power of the food, as compared with the method of judging the good or bad by the scale of the nutrients, calorie consumption, acidity / alkalinity and the like. Further, the scale of the redox potential can quantitatively judge the strength of the reducing power based on where the numerical value is located between -420 mV and +815 mV.

Further, the measurement of the redox potential can be carried out by an extremely simple operation, and moreover, it is sufficient to prepare water and a mixer for adjusting the measurement sample, and it is necessary to burn it. Without the measurement, the reducing power of the food can be surely determined by performing the measurement very easily. Further, since a commercially available redox potential meter can be used for measuring the redox potential, the cost of the measuring device is low. Furthermore, according to the method for measuring the redox potential of the present invention, it is possible to determine the reducing power of the food by measuring the redox potential in exactly the same state as eating the food, so that various conventional discrimination In the method, it was difficult to evaluate the food in a mixed and edible state based on what was measured in the individual condition, but according to the method of the present invention, it is directly determined whether the food is good for the body. It has the effect of being measurable.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a graph summarizing redox potentials of foods obtained in Examples.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for measuring a redox potential of food according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Aqueous solution of food (dispersion) 2 Redox potential meter 3 Electrode

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. When the redox potential of food is measured and the redox potential is corrected to the value of a standard hydrogen electrode and plotted within the range of -420 mV and +815 mV, the closer the value is to -420 mV, the lower the reducing power. Is a large and good food, and a food close to +815 mV is judged to be a bad food. 2. A method for measuring a redox potential of a food, which comprises placing the electrode of a redox potentiometer in the solution after the food is in an aqueous solution state and measuring the redox potential of the food.