JPS6054675A - Treatment of diatom - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To produce diatom highly resistant to oxidation, and utilizable as a natural health food as it is, by washing the cells of diatom with water, filtering in vaccum and drying at a low temperature. CONSTITUTION:The cells of diatom cultured in a culture liquid preferably containing leached liquid of soil or compost and containing >=15% eicosapentanoic acid based on whole fatty acids, and the antioxidant for the acid, are washed with water, and filtered in vacuum. The separated cells are dried at <=70 deg.C, preferably <=50 deg.C under normal pressure or reduced pressure, and optionally pulverized under a condition to break the cell walls. The product is mixed with arbitrary additives.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for treating diatoms to make them suitable for natural health foods.

Phaeodactylum tricorn
utum) can be relatively easily cultured in a culture solution mainly composed of seawater, and is attracting attention because it contains various useful components. For example, according to research by the present inventors, diatoms contain oily substances that can be used as biomass as energy resources and substances such as icosapentaenoic acid, which has unique physiological activities, and it is necessary to extract these useful components. Technology development is also progressing. However, the algae are gone! Leave it still, or simply dehydrate it.
When dried, it has a characteristic foul odor and contains a large amount of silicic acid shell, so it is considered unsuitable for human consumption.

As a result of research into the use of phytoalgae, which is rich in various useful ingredients, as a health food, the present inventors discovered that phaeodactylum, a type of diatom,
tricornutum (hereinafter referred to as "diatom") is
The present invention was completed based on the discovery that it contains a large amount of icosabentenoic acid, which has a unique physiological activity, and that it can be obtained in a form that is useful for health and is edible through simple processing.

The algae used in this invention method has NaN0. , K2
HPO4, FeCl, 'MnCl2, EDTA,
It is preferable to use a culture solution having a basic composition of seawater and pure water, or a culture solution to which soil exudate or compost exudate is added at a ratio of 0.01 to 1 volume. Diatom algae cultured in these culture solutions have thin silicic acid shells and instead have MgO1P205, C
The content percentage of useful components such as aO is increased. The inorganic composition of this diatom in terms of dry matter is shown in Table 1 below.

1st Table 5i02 1.85 AI205 2.03 Fe205 1.51 Mn0 0. O7 MgO15,06 CaO5,16 Na20 5-51 to 201.27 P4O10,38 Ig, Ioss 62.79 Total 99.11 Compost leachate can be made by adding 1.5 p of water to compost i, 5xy (fresh weight) and adding 100 It can be obtained by heating for 1 hour on a water bath at 0.degree. C. for extraction, and then distributing this extract. Moreover, instead of compost, it is also possible to use materials obtained by extracting ordinary soil in the same manner.

By this culture, as dried algae, in continuous culture, 1~
2 K9/ln'*day or more, batch culture 1-2
Ky/m3·2WeekS or more If conditions are carefully selected, a yield of 5 to 7 Ky/m can be obtained.

The diatoms thus obtained are first washed and dried under specific conditions. For the cleaning process, water washing and vacuum filtration are applied instead of water washing and centrifugal dehydration that are generally employed in this field.

For the drying treatment, normal pressure or reduced pressure drying is applied at a temperature of 70° C. or lower, preferably 50° C. or lower, in order to avoid deterioration. This washing and drying process eliminates the characteristic bad odor of untreated algae and changes the odor to a non-offensive odor similar to seaweed or sardines, making it useful as a food.

One of the characteristics of the algae treated in this way is that it can be used as a natural health food as it is because the silicic acid shell is thin, but it is mechanically powdered to destroy the shell. may be applied. This powdering not only improves digestion in the body (but also is advantageous in obtaining a uniform mixture with food additives such as vitamins when adding them). It is also possible to add fillers and excipients as necessary to facilitate the preparation of tablets into suitable shapes.

The diatoms treated according to the treatment method of this invention are
It contains various fatty acids as shown in Table 2 below, and is effective as a health food due to the physiological activity of each fatty acid.

Table 2 Among these fatty acids, icosapentaenoic acid (20:5
) was recently revealed to have unique physiological activities. These highly unsaturated acids are thought to be absorbed into the human body and converted into a group of substances called boostaglandins, which have been shown to help prevent thrombotic diseases and reduce blood cholesterol. was made into

Furthermore, the various fatty acids contained in diatoms treated with the method of this invention are more comfortable, less susceptible to oxidation, and have stable unique physiological activities than those contained in diatoms treated with other methods. It was confirmed that the The present inventors have already confirmed that diatoms contain a useful antioxidant, and it is assumed that this antioxidant acts effectively in preventing the oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids. be done.

Phaeodactylum tricornutum
In this case, those cultured under normal conditions have a ratio of icosabentenoic acid to total fatty acids of 15 or more and can be advantageously used in the present invention. In the algae, the content of icosapentaenoic acid reaches 18% or more of the total fatty acids, so its effectiveness as a health food is even greater.

The antioxidant against icosapentaenoic acid was obtained from Phaeodactylum tri cultured in a conventional manner.
Although it is present in cornutum, it is clear from the oxidation resistance test that it is contained in a particularly sufficient proportion when soil leachate is used.

Example NaNO3320mjj' to 2HPOIlB5mft FeC-650, 78m? Mn CA 2 0.06 m? EDTA 8mf sea water 600m,,ll? Pure water 200 m13 Compost leachate 5ntlC dry amount 3.2nty-) In a culture solution having the above composition, water was grown.

dactylum tricornutum) was cultured for 10 days according to a conventional method, and then the algal bodies were concentrated by precipitation, washed with water, and filtered under vacuum. Next, this algal body was dried under reduced pressure at a temperature of 50° C. and a pressure of 0.5 K”77 cm.

The dried algal bodies obtained were brown in color and had a pleasant odor similar to seaweed or sardines, and were fully edible. Furthermore, when this was powdered in a mortar and mixed with vitamin preparations and bulking agents, it was uniformly and easily tabletted and was also sufficiently edible.

Patent applicant: Industrial Development Research Institute Patent applicant Nishama Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) Algal bodies of diatoms cultured in a culture solution and containing icosapene citric acid and antioxidative substances thereof in an amount of 15 or more based on total fatty acids are washed with water and then vacuum filtered,
A method for treating diatoms, which comprises then drying at normal pressure or reduced pressure at a temperature of 70° C. or lower. (2) The method for treating diatoms according to claim 1, wherein the diatoms are cultured in a culture solution containing soil leachate or compost leachate. (3) Treatment of diatom algae according to claim 1, characterized in that the algal bodies dried at normal pressure or under reduced pressure are pulverized so as to destroy their shells, and optional additives are added thereto. Method.