61A-16

Physicochemical, sensory and non-cariogenicity properties of maltosyl-erythritol

E. Jeon1, I. H. JUNG1, E. S. Seo2, D. Kim2, K. H. Park1, and T. W. Moon1. (1) Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Suwon 441-744, KOREA, South Korea, (2) Department of Materials and Biochemical Engineering, Chonnam National university, Gwangju 500-757, KOREA, South Korea

Sucrose is widely used as sweetener, but its excessive intake leads to obesity, diabetes and tooth-decay. To resolve these problems, various sugar replacements have been developed. Recently, the enzymatic transglycosylation reaction has been investigated to improve the sensory, physicochemical or physiological properties of the existing sugars. Maltogenic amylase from Bacillus stearothermophilus (BSMA) catalyzes the transglycosylation reaction in the presence of suitable glycosyl acceptors. The reaction has been used for enzymatic syntheses of glycosides such as maltooligosyl sucrose and glucosyl ascorbic acid. It is known that transglycosylation often results in new properties of the glycosylated compound.

In this study, maltosyl(G2)-erythritol was prepared, and some of the physicochemical, sensory and  physiological properties were investigated.

G2-erythritol was prepared by transglycosylation reaction between maltotriose and erythritol using BSMA. It was identified by using thin layer chromatography and purified with gel permeation chromatography.

The viscosity and stability of G2-erythritol were similar to test of erythritol, showing no significant effect of temperature, concentration and pH. In the colorability test, at pH 4 heating up to 120OC caused little browning of G2-erythritol. However, at pH 7 browning of G2-erythritol increased with increasing heating temperature over 100OC. Dental caries suppression effect of G2-erythritol was determined as compared with sucrose and erythritol. G2-erythritol was not utilized either as a substrate for the lactic acid production or for water-insoluble glucan synthesis by Streptococcus sobrinus NRRL 14555. Sensory evaluation with magnitude estimation showed that relative sweetness of G2-erythritol was about 40% of sucrose. Its sweetness attributes determined by quantitative descriptive analysis indicated that negative properties, such as bitterness and astringency, were reduced as compared with erythritol.

These results suggest that G2-erythritol can improve sweetness characteristics of erythritol and be used as a new non-cariogenic sweetener.

Session 61A, Carbohydrate
2:00 PM - 5:30 PM, 2002-06-17

2002 Annual Meeting and Food Expo - Anaheim, California