JPS63145367A - Carotenoid pigment composition - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To stabilize a carotenoid pigment against light and oxygen by a simple means to thereby make it easy to handle, by mixing a carotenoid pigment with an org. solvent extract of licorice roots. CONSTITUTION:A carotenoid pigment is mixed with an org. solvent extract of licorice roots. Examples of the arotenoid pigment are beta-carotene, beta-apo-8- carotenal, capsanthin, lycopene, bixin, crocin, canthaxanthine, antaxanthine and esters thereof. Examples of the org. solvent which can be used for the extraction of licorice roots are ethanol, acetone, dioxane, ethyl ether, n-hexane, toluene, methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, etc. Pref. 0.5-50pts.wt. extract is used per pt.wt. pigment.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a highly stable carotenoid pigment composition useful as a coloring agent or raw material for pharmaceuticals in the fields of foods, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, animal husbandry, fisheries, etc. It is something.

Conventional technology Carotenoid pigments are yellow to yellow, which are widely distributed in the animal and plant kingdoms.
It is an orange-red pigment that is particularly abundant in citrus fruits, carrots, tomatoes, sockeye salmon, shrimp, crabs, eggs, and mushrooms, and there are dozens of them.

Carotenoid pigments have beautiful colors and are safe, so they are used as coloring agents in many food and food industries. However, carotenoid pigments are not very stable and are susceptible to discoloration or fading due to acids, oxygen, heat, light, metal ions, etc. Therefore, storage requires sealing and shielding from light, and when added to food or cosmetics, discoloration, fading, decomposition, etc. may occur and the beautiful color tone may not be maintained. For these reasons, the range in which carotenoid pigments can be used has been extremely limited.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems when using carotenoid pigments, various attempts have been made in the past, including the addition of ascorbic acid and tocopherol, which is effective in improving stability against oxygen, and the addition of metal ions. It has been confirmed that the use of sequestering agents such as phytic acid and citric acid is effective against this effect. However, many carotenoid pigments are insoluble in water, so special measures are required to use water-soluble ones such as ascorbic acid, phytic acid, and citric acid, and even if they are used, their effects ( The special light (stabilization against this) was not enough.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned current situation, an object of the present invention is to provide an easy-to-use carotenoid pigment composition that is stabilized against light and oxygen by simple means. .

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention achieves the above objects by mixing carotenoid pigments with an organic solvent extract of licorice.

In other words, when an appropriate amount of carotenoid pigments is mixed with an organic solvent extract, the color value of the carotenoid pigments is significantly sustained under the effects of oxygen, heat, light, etc., although the mechanism of action is not clear. This method takes advantage of the fact that

The organic solvent extract of licorice to be contained in the composition of the present invention refers to licorice or its aqueous (or aqueous medium) extraction residue (for example, the residue after glycyrrhizin is extracted from Seichiko).
It is an extract obtained by extracting with the following organic solvents: lower aliphatic alfur such as methanol and ethanol;
Lower aliphatic ketones such as acetone; lower aliphatic ethers such as acetone and ethyl ether; volatile hydrocarbons such as petroleum ether, n-hexane, cyclohexane, toluene and benzene; carbon atoms such as methylene chloride and chloroform; ~4 halogenated hydrocarbon; ethyl acetate, acetic acid n
- Esters having 3 to 7 carbon atoms, such as propyl, n-butyl acetate, and isobutyl acetate; and mixtures of two or more of these solvents.

Extraction with the above organic solvent can be carried out by immersing the raw material to be treated in about 3 to 5 times the volume of the organic solvent and heating it under reflux, or
This is done by immersing it in twice the amount of organic solvent at room temperature. The extract obtained by distilling off the solvent from the obtained extract is a brown solid with a characteristic odor. This extract can be used as it is in many cases, but if necessary, it may be used after being subjected to purification treatments such as deodorization and decolorization to the extent that its efficacy is not affected.

Since the above-mentioned stabilizing effect of the organic solvent extract of licorice is exerted on any carotenoid pigment, there is no restriction on the carotenoid pigment that can be used as a component of the composition of the present invention. That is, the carotenoid pigment in the composition of the present invention may be extracted from any plant, animal, microorganism, or cells obtained by callus culture.
It may also be a synthetic product.

Specific examples include β-carotene, β-apo-8-carotenal, caffein-santhin, lycopene, bixin, crocin, canthaxanthin, astaxanthin, and esters of these compounds. These are the essence 5! It does not have to be a pure product; the oily liquid that is commonly used for coloring, etc. may be liquid food additive grade.

To obtain the composition of the present invention from a carotenoid pigment and an organic solvent extract of licorice, the organic solvent extract of licorice is added to the carotenoid pigment and stirred. Since the organic solvent extract of licorice is oil-soluble, when the carotenoid pigment is in the form of an oil or a solution, it is easily formed into a homogeneous mixture, resulting in the composition of the present invention. When the carotenoid pigment is a powdered purified product, it is difficult to obtain a homogeneous mixture by simple mixing, so it is desirable to mix the pigments in a liquid state, and then distill off the solvent if necessary. The mixed state of the carotenoid pigment and the organic solvent extract of licorice (ie, the composition of the present invention) may be achieved in some or all of the substances to which the carotenoid pigment is added.

The preferred ratio of the carotenoid pigment to the organic solvent extract of licorice in the composition of the present invention can be arbitrarily selected depending on the desired degree of stabilization, but in most cases, the ratio is based on 1 part by weight of the carotenoid pigment. Licorice organic solvent extract from 0.2 to
Good results can be obtained by setting the amount to 300 parts by weight, preferably 5 to 50 parts by weight.

In addition to the above-mentioned two components and solvents, the composition of the present invention also includes:
Antioxidants such as tocopherol, BHA, BHT, gallic acid and its derivatives, ascorbic acid, citric acid and its salts, phytic acid and its salts, or EDTA
A sequestering agent such as the following may be included. The stabilizing action of the organic solvent extract of licorice is not affected in any way by these compounds; on the contrary, their synergistic action may provide a more stable carotenoid pigment composition.

The present invention will be described below with reference to Examples. The organic solvent extract of licorice used in each example was prepared as follows.

Method for preparing organic solvent extract of licorice: 1 kg of ground licorice root
The mixture was heated under reflux for 2 hours with chloroform from Step 3 to extract the chloroform-soluble components. The same procedure was repeated for the extract and the separated extraction residue to obtain a total amount of 30Q of extract. The solvent in this extract was distilled off, and the extract was further dried under reduced pressure to obtain 35 g of an extract.

Example 1 Orange-yellow colored oils A-C were produced using the following recipe.

ABC β° carotene IIIgIII1g
IIIg Licorice organic solvent extract 15
mg l5mg natural tocopherol
l5mg beef tallow 100g 100
g 100g These colored oils were subjected to an AOM test, and the time T until the coloring completely disappeared was measured. The results were as follows.

Colored oil T (time) A (control product) 15 B (product of the present invention) 35 C (product of the present invention) 75 Example 2 Transparent orange solubilized solutions A-C were prepared according to the following formulation.

BC β-carotene 0.2mg 0.2mg
O, 2mH licorice organic solvent extract
0.15+*g gallic acid
0.l5mg linoleic acid So
me 50mg 50mg tween 20
500+ngSOOmg 50oUag distilled water 50ml 50ml 50m
1 Place the obtained solubilized solution A-C in a transparent glass tube and leave it in a constant temperature bath at 50 ° C under normal room lighting.
``The time N1 required for the absorbance of 70Bm to become half of that at the start of the test was measured.

The results were as follows.

Solubilizing liquid M (min) A (control product) 68 B (control product) 54 C (product of the present invention) 184 Example 3 Orange-red transparent liquids A-C were prepared according to the following formulation.

BC paprika extract' 70mg70mg70I
IIg Licorice organic solvent extract
10mg natural tocopherol 10
mg9 Noric acid 50+l1g5 Om
HS 0mg50% ethanol solution 50+ol
S Oml 50+nl The obtained coloring liquid A-C containing about 4% of Toryoku rotinoid dye was placed in a transparent glass container to a thickness of 5 mto, and a wavelength of 2S4 was applied to this.
It was irradiated with nm ultraviolet light for 4 hours.

Wavelength = 17 O for each sample before and after irradiation
The absorbance in nun was measured to examine the degree of discoloration and fading, and the results were as follows.

Sample Before irradiation After irradiation A (control product)
0.66 0.40B (control product)
0,68 0.82C (product of the present invention) 0,67
0.67 Effects of the Invention As shown in the examples, the composition of the present invention has significantly better persistence of color value than ordinary carotenoid pigments based on the unique action of the organic solvent extract of licorice; The degree of improvement is of a high level that cannot be achieved basolaterally with simple antioxidants such as tocopherols. Therefore, according to the present invention, unlike conventional carotenoid pigments, there is no need to pay special attention to storage or adopt special packaging methods.
The beautiful color tone unique to carotenoid pigments is maintained for a long time, and the product value decreases only slightly due to storage.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A carotenoid pigment composition obtained by mixing a carotenoid pigment with an organic solvent extract of licorice. (2) Carotenoid pigments include β-carotene and β-apo-
Claim 1 which is 8-carotenal, capsanthin, lycopene, bixin, crocin, canthaxanthin, astaxanthin or esters of these compounds.
Compositions as described in Section.