18E-21

M. S. Shin, Dept. of Food and Nutrition, Hanyang Univ., 17 Haengdang-dong Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 133-791, South Korea, S. Lee, Cereal Products and Food Science Research Unit, USDA-ARS-National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, 1815 N. University St., Rm. 0057-B, Peoria, IL 61604, and H. G. LEE, Food and Nutrition, Hanyang Univ., 17 Haengdang-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 133-791, South Korea.

Due to the essential role of food products in health maintenance and disease prevention, the food industry has a great interest in nutraceuticals or functional materials with health-enhancing properties. This recent trend has intensified the importance in dietary fibers such as beta-glucan because of its beneficial physiological effects. In addition to the intrinsic physiological properties of beta-glucan, it would be also worth while to develop new functional properties of beta-glucan through physical or chemical modifications. In this study, aminated beta-glucan was prepared by chemical modification and the structural and physiological properties of the aminated beta-glucan were characterized. Beta-glucan extracted from oats was subjected to reductive amination and its structure was investigated by ¹³C-NMR and FT-IR analysis. Moreover, several physiological properties of the aminated beta-glucan such as cholesterol reduction, antihypertension, antimicrobial effects, and nitric oxide production were studied. Degree of substitution obtained from elemental analysis was 0.50 and the distribution of amino groups in the beta-glucan derivative was verified by ¹³C-NMR and FT-IR analysis. The aminated beta-glucan showed significantly higher bile acid binding activity than native beta-glucan. In addition, antimicrobial effects against E. Coli and B. Subtilis, and ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibition activities of the beta-glucan derivative were observed in a concentration-dependent manner. These improved functionalities of the derivative could be attributed to its polycationic properties. Moreover, the aminated beta-glucan showed a stimulatory effect on nitric oxide production. Thus, it could be recognized that aminated beta-glucan has great potentials as a nutraceutical or functional material for practical applications in the field of food science.

Session 18E, Nutraceutical & Functional Foods: General I
2:00 PM - 5:30 PM, Sunday PM Room Hall I-2

2005 IFT Annual Meeting, July 15-20 - New Orleans, Louisiana