NO121493B - - Google Patents

Description

Method for producing a sugar substitute.

Addendum to patent no. 117,422

The invention relates to a modification of the method for producing a sugar substitute according to Norwegian patent no. 117,422.

It is known that for the production of such products which usually contain sugar, e.g. caramels, confectionery and other sweets, to use sorbitol to avoid the risk of caries. The advantage of using sorbitol is that sorbitol does not cause any fermentation which can be the main cause of caries and other unfavorable conditions in the teeth.

However, it has been shown that when consuming sorbitol-containing food and recreational drugs, e.g. Caramels often cause digestive disturbances depending on the small resorption of sorbitol in the intestine, whereby a laxative effect occurs. In sensitive people, such problems appear after consuming approx. 50 g of pure sorbitol, other people can tolerate significantly larger amounts of sorbitol without any side effects appearing.

From the above it appears that there is a need for a further improved substitute for sugar for use in caramels, confectionery and similar products, which substitute does not cause difficulty in digestion and also reduces the risk of caries occurring.

The present invention relates to such an improved sugar substitute which has no exfoliating effect and does not, or only to an extremely small extent, cause caries to attack the teeth.

The basic substance for the sugar substitute according to the invention is polysaccharides, e.g. starch and the sugar substitute according to the invention are prepared in such a way that polysaccharide, e.g. starch, is subjected to a partial hydrolysis, e.g. at an elevated temperature of approx. 150°C, under acidic, slightly hydrolyzing conditions, such as at a pH value between 2 and 4, and using a weak organic or inorganic acid or an acidic salt as acidic medium. During the hydrolysis, the temperature, pH value and pressure are adapted in such a way that the desired partial hydrolysis of the starting material is obtained.

Preferably, however, the weak partial hydrolysis is carried out using a low-activity enzyme, as the hydrolysis is carried out under optimal conditions for the particular enzyme used.

The enzyme used for starch hydrolysis preferably consists of an enzyme with a weak hydrolysing effect. A majority of enzymes of this type are known on the market.

A preferred suitable polysaccharide starting material is starch,

e.g. corn starch or potato starch.

During the partial hydrolysis of starch, this is mainly converted into dextrins and lower polysaccharides or oligosaccharides, which contain 2-20 monosaccharide units, preferably 3-10 monosaccharide units, while free monosaccharides, such as glucose or disaccharides not at all or only to a limited extent is formed. According to the invention, the hydrolysis is carried out so that the average number of polysaccharides or oligosaccharides contains approximately 3-5 monosaccharide units, e.g. 4 monosaccharide units, the content of reducing groups being lower than that corresponding to a dextrose equivalent value of 15%. When the desired decomposition has been achieved, the hydrolysis is interrupted, which in the case of hydrolysis in an acidic environment and at an elevated temperature occurs by neutralization of the acid and/or lowering the temperature, while the interruption of enzymatic hydrolysis occurs when the temperature is increased to 6de-lay the enzyme.

According to one embodiment of the method, the hydrolysed material is subjected to a fermentation to further reduce the amount of fermentable mono- and disaccharides, in which case hydrolysis products may exhibit a content-reducing group,

which is greater than what corresponds to a dextrose equivalent value of 15%, for which a reduction of the amount of reducing substances to below this limit value occurs during fermentation.

The dextrins and lower polysaccharides or oligosaccharides obtained by the partial hydrolysis of the starch are then subjected in a manner known per se to a complete hydrogenation, preferably at an elevated temperature, using, for example, Raney nickel as a catalyst.

During the hydration, all resulting monosaccharide groups occurring in the terminal position in the dextrins or poly- or oligosaccharides are transferred to a fully hydrated state, i.e. a pol<y>d compound is formed. This reduces the fermentability of the material.

The hydrated mixture of dextrins and polysaccharides or oligosaccharides which is obtained in the manner indicated above, and which on average contains 3-5 monosaccharide units per molecule, exhibits a lower degree of sweetness than sucrose, which is due to the fact that the mono- or disaccharides in the hydrolysis step are not formed at all or only to a small extent, or that these are removed by the possibly interrupted fermentation step. For this reason, the product obtained in the hydration step can be mixed with a synthetic sweetening agent, such as saccharin or sodium cyclamate in such an amount, that a product with a degree of sweetness corresponding to that of sucrose is obtained. In this way, it is achieved that the obtained mixture can directly replace a corresponding amount of sucrose in the production of food and pleasure products of the most diverse types, including caramels and other sweets.

Product according to the invention can be produced in the form of a viscous syrup, i.e. in solution, but it is also possible to subject the solution to drying, so that a white powder is obtained, which is only slightly hydroscopic. The drying can take place in the usual way, e.g. by solidification removal, roller drying or freeze drying.

The invention is explained in more detail by means of the following examples, in which parts and percentages refer to dry weight, unless otherwise stated, and the temperatures are given in degrees Celsius.

EXAMPLE I Acid hydrolysis.

A slurry of potato starch, which contains 45% dry substance (2000 kg of potato flour containing 1800 kg of dry starch and 2000 liters of water) was mixed with 5 liters of 37% technical hydrochloric acid. The pH of the mixture was 2.2. The saccharification was carried out for 30 minutes at 130° and at an overpressure of 3 to convert the starch into a dextrin-containing degradation product. The amount of reduced substances, calculated as dextrose, was 12%. The reaction mixture was neutralized to pH 6.5 with 20 liters of 15% sodium carbonate solution. The solution was decolorized with activated carbon and the solids were removed by centrifugation. Raney nickel catalyst in an amount of 2%, i.e. 36 kg, was then deposited. The hydrogenation was carried out at a hydrogen gas pressure of 75 and at a temperature of 145°. Hydrogen gas consumption was 30 m hydrogen gas, calculated at NTP. The hydrogenation is carried out in the usual way and until an equilibrium state is reached, i.e. until all reducing substances have been hydrogenated. The catalyst is removed by separation.

To remove metal ions and acidification, the solution was passed through a cation exchange resin and through an anion exchange resin, after which the solution was concentrated by evaporation in vacuo and spray-dried to give a non-hygroscopic powder.

When it is intended to produce a product which can be directly used as a substitute for sucrose, sodium cyclamate was added to the concentrated solution for spray drying in an amount corresponding to 10 g per kg dry matter.

EXAMPLE II Enzymatic hydrolysis.

The 45% starch suspension according to example I was mixed with 3 kg of enzyme (bacterial α-Amylase). The solution's pH value was 6.2. By adding sodium carbonate solution, the pH value was set to 7.5. The suspension was heated for 15 minutes at a temperature of 90°. The enzyme was then inactivated by heating for 5 minutes at a temperature of 110°C. The final product was a solution, which mainly contained dextrin-containing degradation products. The content of reducing substances, calculated as dextrose, was 4.6%. The solution was decoloured, separated and hydrated, as described in example I. In the hydration step, 26 m 3 of hydrogen were consumed at NTP.

EXAMPLE III Fermentation of mono- and disaccharides as an intermediate step.

In order to obtain the lowest possible content of mono- and disaccharides, the following intermediate steps were carried out in the method according to example I.

By increasing the saccharification time in example I from 30 minutes to 60

minutes (or from 15 minutes to 60 minutes in example 2)

a reduction value of 27% was achieved. The solution was precisely

tralized to pH 5.0 with 18 liters of 15 96-ig sodium carbonate solution

nothing. The temperature was set at 30° and 10 kg of brewer's yeast (Saccharomycetes cerevisiae) was added. The pre-fermentation was carried out in the usual way and ended after approximately 48 hours,

when carbonic acid exchange ceased. The amount of reducing sugar was then reduced to about 1.2 96. The solution was decolorized with activated carbon and filtered. The resulting clear solution was hydrated as described above. The consumed hydrogen

the amount of gas was 12 m 3 at NTP.

The hydrogenated solution was separated from the catalyst, filtered

and treated with ion exchange resin. In the subsequent evaporation step, the alcohol formed was removed.

Claims (1)

Modification of the method for the production of a sugar substitute according to Norwegian patent no. 117,422, preferably for use in caramels, confections and other sweet products, characterized by hydrolyzing polysaccharide-containing starting material, preferably starch, into a product consisting of dextrins and/or lower polysaccharides or oligosaccharides, containing 2-20 monosaccharide units, preferably 3-10 monosaccharide units, the average value for the monosaccharide units per molecule is 3 - 5 and preferably 4, as the content of reducing groups is lower than what corresponds to a dextrose equivalent value of 15 96, possibly subject the fermentable mono- and disaccharides formed in the hydrolysis step to a fermentation, if the quantity of the substances with reducible groups formed in the hydrolysis step exceeds what corresponds to a dextrose equivalent value of 15 96 , by which pre-fermentation this value is lowered to below 15 96 and that the product containing dextrins and/or lower poly- or oligosaccharides is then hydrogenated, after which, if desired, to increase the degree of sootiness in the product obtained by hydrogenation, this sooting agent is added, e.g. . saccharin or sodium cyclamate, in such a quantity that the degree of sweetness of the mixture corresponds to that of sugar.