MX2013004901A - Process for obtaining fructanes from young agave and use thereof as functional ingredient. - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention refers to agave fructanes obtained from young agave, the process for obtaining and applying the same specifically as a functional ingredient with nutraceutical properties for reducing triglycerides in serum in normal, overweight and obese patients with dyslipidemia. The product has the characteristic of being constituted by a mixture of fructanes of different degree of polymerization DP, which are agaves with a degree of ripeness of about 3 years, in a ratio that varies from about 30/70 to about 50/50 referred to long-chain fructanes /short-chain fructanes. The process through which this product is obtained, using young agave, consists in washing the core, crush it and tear the fiber for being lixiviated with hot water and obtaining an aqueous extract that contains the soluble solids of the agave. The extract is clarified by coagulation, sedimentation and filtration for separating the insoluble solids present therein. The extract may be concentrated or dehydrated for obt aining a product in powder.

Description

PROCESS OF OBTAINING FRUCTANOS DE AGAVE JOVEN AND USE AS FUNCTIONAL INGREDIENT.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The field to which this invention relates is that of food biotechnology, particularly in the area of nutraceutical products and functional ingredients, specifically in relation to fructans used for the formulation of food and food supplements.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to obtain a product containing a mixture of agave fructans of different degrees of polymerization, which can be used as a nutraceutical ingredient in the formulation of functional foods or for use as a food supplement, with the characteristic that reduces triglycerides in conditions of metabolic disorders, overweight or obesity.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Fructans are polymer chains of fructose of different size or degree of polymerization (DP) that are produced naturally by various microorganisms and plants. They are found in approximately 15% of species of flowering plants belonging to the monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous families, especially of temperate and arid climates.

Plant fructans have different structures and chain lengths, ranging from above three to a few hundred units of fructose, with a wide variety i links and fructosil residues. Fructans with a degree of polymerization of 2 to 10 are commonly called fructooligosaccharides. Fructans of different origin may differ by the degree of polymerization, the presence of branches, the type of link between the adjacent fructose units and the position of the glucose residues. In nature, we mainly distinguish five structural classes of fructans: inulin, levana, mixtures of branched fructans, inulin neoseries and neoseries of levana. In dicotyledonous plants (family Asteraceae) linear inulin is synthesized, which consists of a terminal glucose residue and a variable number of fructose residues bound exclusively by ß2-1 bonds. The chain length of the inulin deposited in storage organs varies among the different species. Inulin stored in chicory root (Chicoriumintybus) and in tubers such as artichoke (Helianthustuberosus) have an average lower degree of polymerization, approximately 10 to 30. The highest degree of polymerization of inulin in Asteraceae has been found in artichoke globe (Cynarascolymus) reaching up to 200 fructose residues. The monocotyledonous plants (the families Poaceae, Alliaceae, Asparagaceae, Agavaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Haemodoraceae and Iridaceae) produce more complex fructans. In Agavaceae several fructan structures have been found. In American Agave, inulin was identified as the main reserve carbohydrate. The stems of Agave Veracruz and Agave tequilana store a complex mixture of fructooligosaccharides, inulins, inulin neoseries and branched fructans.

Fructans are substances that have been associated with a series of functions for health, among which are its beneficial effect as a prebiotic, in the availability of minerals, the strengthening of defense mechanisms, improvement of lipid metabolism, as well as the prevention of certain diseases. (Ulloa et al, 2007).

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a Nutraceutical product, also called functional or bioactive compound, as any product similar in appearance to a conventional food that has one or more intentional benefits, beyond providing adequate nutrition, such as a better state of health or a reduction of the risk of a certain disease.

The present invention relates to the extraction of agave fructans that have a wide range of degrees of polymerization, so that their characteristics can be used in the formulation of functional foods or food supplements with the nutraceutical characteristic of reducing triglycerides in conditions of metabolic alterations, overweight or obesity.

Unlike what other patents or investigations on some nutraceutical effects of fructans describe, this patent is specifically related to agave fructans that are obtained from the stem or heads of agave, these being in a state of incomplete maturity, that is to say in a stage of growth before reaching its full maturity (young agave), since the composition of agave carbohydrates changes during the growth of the plant.

Studies have been carried out on the size distribution or degree of polymerization (DP) of agave fructans, for example, the degree of polymerization of fructans extracted from 8-year-old plants with a DP value between 3 and 29 has been reported (López et al., 2003); Other studies indicate that the distribution of sizes that can occur in fructans extracted from agave depends on the age of this one, finding fructans with maximum DP of 20 in agaves of 2 years, and up to 30 in agaves of 4 years (Arrizon et al. ., 2010). However, until now it had not been quantified that percentage of long-chain fructans (DP greater than 10) or short-chain fructans (DP less than 10) were contained in the total of fructans extracted from agaves of different ages. We designed a methodology to determine these percentages, the distribution of carbohydrates in extracts obtained from agaves from 1 to 6 years of age is shown later in the description of the invention, denoting that at an age around 3 years of cultivation, there is a larger quantity of short chain fructans, so it is new to use young agave to obtain a differentiated product from those that exist in the market with important contents of both long-chain fructans and short-chain fructans. Using the agave as a raw material and taking advantage of this characteristic of distribution of the carbohydrate profile during its development, consequently, the present invention proposes a process capable of processing both young and mature agave to obtain differentiated products with specific characteristics and properties, so that its use or application is novel.

The extraction of the soluble carbohydrates contained in agave plants has been reported by López et al. 2003, in this publication they report a process that uses 80% ethanol for the extraction of fructans from pineapples of agave, followed by a second extraction with water, mixture of both supernatants and concentration by evaporation with vacuum. In the present invention a different extraction process is proposed which consists of the extraction of carbohydrates by leaching in a diffuser that uses water at 80 ° C as a solvent and spray drying. Water is an economical solvent and friendly to the environment.

Other processes for the extraction of agave fructans have been proposed, for example the patent US 4 138 272 A (Zepeda Castillo, 1979), claims a process consisting of chop the material (leaves and heart of the plants) and extract the juice by maceration, clarification of the juice by sedimentation, acidification of the juice to pH3-4 to hydrolyze, neutralize, clarify, concentration by evaporation and pasteurization obtaining fructose syrup product. In the present invention, extraction processes by leaching agaves of different ages are proposed, which makes it possible to obtain products with different carbohydrate profiles, very different from a fructose syrup.

Patent WO 02/066517 A1 (Legorreta, 2002), claims a process that consists of crushing the agave pineapples, drying them and grinding the dried product to obtain a powder product called agave flour. The flour is dissolved in water at 85-90 ° C and filtered to remove insolubles. The reconstituted juice is treated with powdered activated carbon and filtered with filter aid. The product can be concentrated or spray dried to obtain the product called inulin base (liquid or powder). In the present invention, agave products other than agave flour are obtained, which is claimed in patent WO 02/066517 A1, using a different process consisting in the reduction of size of the agave pineapples and extraction of the soluble carbohydrates through a leaching process, followed by microfiltration, taking advantage of the young agaves to obtain a different product in the profile of carbohydrates, containing important quantities of short-chain fructans, which had not been quantified and characterized in other publications.

In the patent application MX 2009008643 (Noriega, 2011), the mechanical extraction of agave fructans is demanded by pressing using low temperatures (20 to 25 ° C), extracting 50 to 60% of the juices contained in the agave pineapple. . The present invention is different since it is proposed an extraction process that proposes the reduction of size of agave fructans by crushing and tearing, extraction It is carried out by leaching in a diffuser that uses water at 80 ° C as solvent, managing to extract 97% of the carbohydrates contained in the agave plants, afterwards a filtration is carried out, obtaining products with different carbohydrate distributions in function to the maturity of the agave used in the process. Taking advantage of young agaves to obtain a different product in the carbohydrate profile, containing important quantities of short chain fructans.

In EP1125507 A1, products with agave inulin or with chicory inulin, capable of being used as modulators of the bacterial flora which in turn can provide associated nutritional benefits, are described. The product refers to an easily fermentable inulin mixture (preferably oligofructose, an agave inulin or a mixture) and a hardly fermentable inulin (preferably long inulin chains with DP = 20, typically chicory inulin with DP = 23, in mixtures which range from 10/90 to 70/30 w / w and the final blends can be 35/65 to 65/35 of the easily / hardly fermentable ratio The products obtained by the process of the present invention for use as nutraceuticals , have different proportions of the easily / hardly fermentable ratio ranging from 30/70 to 50/50 reaching a different proportion than previously described and are composed exclusively of young agave fructans.

In the patent application MX 2008010779 A describes the use of agave fructans that present mixtures with DP of 3 to 22, with "greater" prebiotic effect than commercial inulins, as well as a "significant" effect in the reduction in the gain of weight, the ingestion of food and the decrease of glucose, triglycerides and cholesterol in non-pathological conditions. In the present invention it is proved that young agave fructans containing a natural mixture of short chain fructans and long chain fructans, they have an effect on the decrease of triglycerides under conditions of hypertriglyceridemia, so that the resulting effects are different from those mentioned in said reference. Urías et al., Reported in 2008 the use of agave fructans to decrease food intake, fat tissue and body weight by incorporating 10% of agave fructans with average DP of 13 in the food, as an ingredient and evaluated in mice without conditions. of pathology; In the present invention, young agave fructans containing a mixture of both short-chain fructans (DP between 3 and 10) and long-chain fructans (DP> 10) with different administration strategy in terms of dose and frequency were evaluated, and it is proven that they have a similar effect but in disease conditions, such as hypertriglyceridemia, so the products must be used in different physiological conditions, these studies being excluded.

In the work published by Rendón-Huerta et al., In 2012, commercial agave fructans constituted by more than 90% inulin (DP > 10) were evaluated and it was found that agave fructans do not decrease triglyceride levels in a rat model with diabetes and / or obesity but without hypertriglyceridemia. In the present invention it is demonstrated that young agave fructans containing a mixture of both short chain fructans (DP between 3 and 10) and long chain fructans (DP> 10) lower triglyceride levels under hypertriglyceridemia conditions, therefore, the products must be used in different physiological conditions, differentiating themselves from said studies.

In these last four cases mentioned, the use of mixtures that may contain agave fructans and other sources is reported, unlike what is presented in this invention that refers to the product that contains only the natural mixture of branched agave fructans of short chain and long chain present naturally in the young agave.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Figure 1 shows the carbohydrate profile of extracts of agave pineapples at different ages, from 1 to 6 years of cultivation.

Figure 2 is a flow diagram showing the steps of the process for obtaining the product.

Figure 3 shows the carbohydrate profile of the product obtained in example 1).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The product obtained with the process of this invention, called "Fructans total of young agave" (FTAJ), contains the total fructans present naturally in the young agave pineapples, as well as the other compounds present as salts minerals and phytochemical compounds.

The agave that is used as a raw material to obtain this product, has about 3 years of cultivation, which determines that the composition of its carbohydrates is different because the polymer chains of the fructans that contain the agaves, are increasing its size as its growth progresses. As shown in figure 1, the agave is changing its carbohydrate profile during its development. The reach of its maturity is normally achieved after 6 years of cultivation, where the degree of polymerization of the fructan chains is greater. The "young" agave, with a development time of around 3 years, contains a higher proportion of short-chain fructans, with a degree of polymerization (DP) between 3 and 10 units of fructose. This characteristic allows to obtain an extract that contains a mixture of branched fructans of agave with different degrees of polymerization, resulting in particular nutraceutical characteristics, such as that described in example 2 of this invention.

The nutraceutical characteristics of the product obtained with the process of this invention, allows it to be consumed as food supplements or be used as a functional ingredient in the preparation of food products.

The FTAJ product of the present invention can be used to decrease the concentration of triglycerides in serum, in overweight, obese or normal-weight patients with dyslipidemias.

The process of obtaining the total fructans that contains the young agave consists of the following steps: 1. Wash the agave pineapples. Sprinkle water at room temperature in order to remove the soil and foreign materials that accompany the agave from the field. 2. Crush and tear the fibers of the agave pineapple. This stage is carried out mechanically by means of rotating equipment provided with cutting elements to reduce the size of the agave pineapples and obtain the defibrated material so that the next step, which is extraction by leaching, can be carried out efficiently. This step of the process can be carried out with the following options: to. Grind the agave pineapple with a chopper machine equipped with rotating blades and then "tear" the fibers by passing the crushed material either once or twice through a machine that harrows chains or rotating hammers, which helps to separate the fibers and generate more surface exposed for better contact with the solvent (hot water) and make an adequate extraction in the diffuser, b. Use a wood chipper machine, which uses a knife blade to finely cut the agave pineapple, in order to extract the soluble components it contains. 3. Extract from the soluble compounds by leaching with hot water in diffuser. The crushed and torn material in the previous step is put in contact with an appropriate solvent, which in this case is hot water, at a temperature between 30 and 90 ° C, which is responsible for dissolving the soluble substances of agave, whose main component are fructans. The extraction is carried out by means of a device called "Diffuser", which is in charge of putting a stream of hot water in contact with the defibrated agave, making the operation repeatedly in several stages against the current. The operating conditions are carefully controlled to avoid the formation of ARD (direct reducing sugars). The amount of water used for the extraction is around 1.3 m3 per ton of agave, with a temperature between 30 and 90 ° C, preferably between 60 and 80 ° C. The extract obtained reaches a concentration of approximately 13%, which varies depending on the amount of soluble solids present in the agave naturally. 4. Clarify the leached extract. Separate the insoluble solids by filtration. For this purpose, the obtained raw juice or aqueous extract of the agave is preheated to a temperature between 70 and 90 ° C, preferably 80 ° C, for a time between 20 and 40 min, preferably 30 minutes, to cause thermal coagulation of colloidal substances. Once the coagulation is provoked, the juice is filtered through a fine bed generated with filter aid with size of holes of 1 miera, as the Dicalite 427 and / or powdered activated carbon such as Clarimex DB. The filtration system is integrated by a filter press or sheet filter equipped with a preparation tank of the filter aid layer and / or activated carbon. 5. Concentrate the obtained extract by means of evaporation in vacuum. This concentration makes it possible to obtain the product from the previous stage in the form of a concentrated aqueous solution. In this way, the excess water contained in the extract is eliminated until a syrup with a concentration of 40-50% of total solids is obtained. Vacuum evaporation is done in such a way that the boiling temperature is not higher than 60 ° C, to avoid the thermal deterioration of the components. The product obtained can be used in liquid form (concentrated solution) or, if preferred, it can be dehydrated to obtain it in powder form, which is the most common form for its application. 6. Dry by aspersion of the concentrated extract to obtain the powder product. Dehydrate the concentrated extract obtained in the previous stage, by spray drying, to obtain the product in powder form.

Although the process described can be applied to agave with different degrees of maturity, the products obtained have different compositions in terms of the proportions of short-chain fructans and long-chain fructans, in a proportion ranging from 30/70 to 50/50 referred to long chain fructans / short chain fructans, so their nutraceutical characteristics will be different. That is why the present invention refers to the use of agave with a maturity of about 3 years of cultivation.

EXAMPLES Example 1. Obtaining the total fructans of young agave.

For this example Agave tequilana Weber was used, blue variety, with a state of maturity of around 3 years (young agave). 100 kg of young agave heads were used as raw material, which were prepared to reduce their size, washing them previously to the stream of drinking water and using a blade crusher that chops the pineapple into small pieces, which are then transferred to a second stage of reduction of size through chain harrowing. The material already crushed and defibrated was placed in the leach diffuser to obtain, through hot water as a solvent, fructans and other minor compounds or impurities. The liquid obtained or extract with the total fructans is maintained at a temperature of 80 ° C to induce the flocculation of compounds considered as impurities (gums, proteins, waxes, among others) and then subjected to filtration using diatomaceous earths and / or activated carbon as a filter helps. This extract is concentrated by vacuum evaporation and dewatered by spray to obtain 20.2kg dry base, of powder product called Fructose Totals of Young Agave (FTAJ), whose main characteristics is that it contains the total fructans present in natural form in agave, with a wide range of molecular chain sizes; In addition to containing mineral salts and other phytochemicals that are also present naturally in the agave.

Figure 3 shows the carbohydrate profile of the product obtained from the young agave.

Example 2. Study in obese mice with hypertriglyceridemia to evaluate the effect of FTAJ on triglyceride concentration in serum.

The effect of FTAJ on serum triglycerides was measured in a murine model of diet-induced obesity.

The mice of strain C57BL / 6 develop obesity with a high-calorie diet (5.1 Kcal / g) after 8 weeks and present hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia and weight gain, characteristic conditions of obesity. The following groups of mice (groups of 10 mice, 9 weeks old at the beginning of the experiment) were used: Group 1: Group of mice that received a standard diet.

Group 2: Group of mice that received a hypercaloric diet to develop obesity.

Group 3: Group of mice that received a hypercaloric diet plus FTAJ.

After one week of adaptation, the mice received a hypercaloric diet (access to food and water ad libitum) in conjunction with a daily administration of the FTAJ (5g / kg body weight / day) for 8 weeks. At the end of the study, blood samples were collected to determine the concentration of triglycerides in serum by means of a spectrophotometric technique.

The results are presented in Table 1.

The data in Table 1 show that mice receiving a hypercaloric diet significantly increased triglyceride levels (hypertriglyceridemia) compared to non-obese mice with standard diet, while obese mice receiving FTAJ had a statistically significant lower concentration of triglycerides in serum (mg / dL) compared to the control group of obese mice with hypertriglyceridemia. What corresponds to a 31.8% decrease in serum triglycerides after consumption of FTAJ. These results also show that the decrease in triglyceride levels mediated by the administration of FTAJ is not less than the basal levels of the non-obese group.

Table 1 : Average ± Standard deviation, to p < 0.05 1vs. 2, bp < 0.05 2 vs. 3

Claims (1)

CLAIMS Having described the invention sufficiently as above, it is considered of our exclusive property contained in the following claims:

1. Process of obtaining young agave fructans consisting of the following steps: to. wash the young agave pineapples with water sprinkled at room temperature; b. crushing and tearing the fibers of the agave pineapple mechanically by means of rotating equipment provided with cutting elements to reduce the size of the agave pineapples and obtain the defibrated material; c. extract the soluble compounds by leaching with hot water, at a temperature between 30 and 90 ° C, in diffuser; using about 1.3m3 of water per ton of agave, reaching an extract concentration of approximately 13%; d. clarify the extract leached by heating the extract obtained at a temperature between 70 and 90 ° C for a time between 20 and 40 min to cause the thermal coagulation of colloidal substances; the juice is filtered through a fine bed generated with filter aid with hole size of 1 miera; and. concentrate the different extracts obtained by means of vacuum evaporation with a boiling temperature not higher than 60 ° C, achieving a syrup with a concentration of 40-50% of total solids; F. spray dry the concentrated extract obtained to obtain the product in powder form. Process for obtaining young agave fructans, according to claim 1, characterized in that agave with maturity of about 3 years is used. Young agave fructans obtained from the process according to claim 1 and 2, characterized in that it is an extract containing a mixture of branched fructans of agave of a higher proportion of short chain fructans, with a degree of polymerization of 3-10 units of fructose . Young agave fructans according to claim 3, characterized in that they contain a proportion ranging from 30/70 to 50/50 referred to short chain fructans / short chain fructans. Young agave fructans according to claim 3, characterized in that it can be consumed as a food supplement or as a functional ingredient in the preparation of food products. Young agave fructans according to claim 3, characterized in that they work to decrease the concentration of triglycerides in serum, in overweight, obese or normal-weight patients with dyslipidemias.