Chewing gum and production of the same

Details Chewing gum and production of the same Chewing gum and production of the same

1998-03-16

2001-06-19

Wilson, James O. (Department: 1623)

Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions

Preparations characterized by special physical form

Food or edible as carrier for pharmaceutical

C424S048000, C424S058000, C424S401000, C424S409000, C424S410000, C424S419000, C424S439000, C424S458000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06248346

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a chewing gum and a method of producing the same. More specifically, a chewing gum having an inhibitory action against influenza virus and a method of producing said chewing gum, to which a specific amount of tea polyphenols is added.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Chewing gum has an effect of refreshing one's mount, so many people enjoy it, and there are a variety of flavors, including the sugarless types, on the market. However, up until now there has not been on the market a chewing gum which has a preventative action against infection to influenza virus.
A purpose of the present invention is to provide a chewing gum which has a preventative reaction against infection by influenza virus, and inhibits the spread of said viruses.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
First, the present invention relates to a chewing gum characterized by including 0.03 weight % or more of tea polyphenol in a chewing gum containing no organic acids.
Second, the present invention relates to a method of producing a chewing gum which comprises adding 0.03 weight % or more of tea polyphenol to a chewing gum containing no organic acids.
Third, the present invention relates to a chewing gum characterized by including 0.01 weight % or more of tea polyphenol in a chewing gum containing organic acids.
Finally, the present invention relates to a method of producing a chewing gum which comprises adding 0.01 weight % or more of tea polyphenol to a chewing gum containing organic acids.
Further, the present invention provides a method of preventing against infection by influenza virus which comprises administering an effective amount of tea polyphenols to a person through chewing a chewing gum mentioned above.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The chewing gum of the present invention has as its special characteristic the addition of 0.03 weight % or more of tea polyphenols (0.01 weight % or more of tea polyphenols in the case where organic acids are contained in the chewing gum) to an ordinary chewing gum, and the production thereof should be carried out by the usual methods. That is to say, basically it can be produced by addition a specified amount of tea polyphenols to a gum base, mixing and shaping; but usually, regular components such as sugar, flavor, etc. are also optionally added. With the addition of an organic acid such as citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid or fumaric acid, tea polyphenols are stabilized and the amount eluted in the mouth is increased when chewed, and thus such an addition of the organic acid is desirable.
The tea polyphenols used in the present invention are tea catechins are represented by general formula I below and theaflavins as represented by general formula II below, and these may be used singly or in combination.
where R
1
is H or OH and R
2
is H or
wherein R
3
and R
4
are H or
and R
3
and R
4
may be either the same or different to each other.
Specific examples of tea catechins as shown in general formula I above are as follows:
Epicatechin(EC): in general formula I R
1
═H, R
2
═H)
Epigallocatechin (EGC): in general formula I R
1
═OH, R
2
═H)
Epicatechin gallate (ECg): in general formula I R
1
═H, R
2
═
Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg): in general formula 1, R
1
═OH, R
2
═
Out of these the preferable tea catechin contains at least one of the following: epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate and epigallocatechin gallate. Particularly preferable is to use a tea catechin product which contains epigallocatechin gallate as the main component. For example Polyphenon 100™ (manufactured by Mitsui Norin Co. Ltd., Composition: (+) gallocatechin 1.44% (−) epicatechin 5.81%, (−) epigallocatechin 17.57% (−) epicatechin gallate 12.51% (−) epigallocatechin gallate 53.9%) or Polyphenon E™ (manufactured by Mitsui Norin Co. Ltd., Composition: (−) epicatechin 8.0% (−) epigallocatechin 18.0% (−) epicatechin gallate 2.5%. (−) epigallocatechin gallate 55.5%).
Specific examples of theaflavins as shown in the above general formula II are as follows:
Free theaflavin (TF1): in general formula II R
3
═H, R
4
═H.
Theaflavin monogallate A (TF2A): in general formula II, R
3
═
R
4
═H.
Theaflavin monogallate B (TF2B): in general formula II, R
3
═H, R
4
═
Theaflavin digallate (TF3): in general formula II R
3
, R
4
═
Among them, the preferable theaflavin contains theaflavin digallate as the main component, for example Polyphenon TF™ (manufactured by Mitsui Norin Co. Ltd., Composition: theaflavin 16.8%, theaflavin monogallate A 19.5%, theaflavin monogallate B 16.1%, theaflavin digallate 31.4%).
The above tea polyphenol products contain EGCg or ECg as their main component and may be produced using tea leaves as the raw material. The method for production is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,530 (Japanese Patent Kokai 59-219384). U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,672 (Japanese Patent Kokai 60-13780) and Japanese Patent Kokai 61-130285 etc. The entire contents of U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,530 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,672 are hereby incorporated by reference. For example, there is a method whereby tea leaves are extracted in hot water, or a solvent selected from the group consisting of methanol, aqueous ethanol and aqueous acetone; then after the extract solution thus obtained is dissolved by mixing in an organic solvent, the organic solvent is evaporated to remove the same. Moreover, the concentrated solution of the extracted component obtained in this way may be subjected to high pressure liquid chromatography for separation into the individual components as described above.
Any kind of tea leaves may be used, for example apart from fresh tea leaves, unfermented tea, semi-fermented tea, green tea, instant green tea and even tea dregs may be used. About 10 weight % tea catechin is usually contained in tea leaves, and theaflavins are contained in black tea.
As for the amount of tea polyphenol to be added to the chewing gum, not all of the tea polyphenol contained in the gum is released when the gum is chewed, so the amount to be added should be calculated by taking the amount released (or eluted) in the mouth as a standard. If more than 2 ppm of tea polyphenols are present in the saliva as mentioned later, infection by the influenza virus will be inhibited, and the dissemination of said viruses will be prevented. The least amount of polyphenol in the saliva required to inhibit infection by and dissemination of such viruses is 2 ppm, or more preferably 2-10 ppm of tea polyphenols should be present in the saliva.
We investigated the amount of tea polyphenol which is released (or eluted) in the mouth when the chewing gum is chewed and found that as shown in Test Examples below, it was about 10 weight % in the case where no organic acids such as citric acid were present, and about 35 weight % in the case where organic acids were present.
Normally humans secrete about 1 ml of saliva per minute but when gum is chewed the amount secreted increased to about 3 ml per minute. When, for example, 3.2 g stick gum is chewed for 15 minutes, assuming that the elution of the polyphenol and secretion of the saliva during this time proceeds at a regular rate, the tea polyphenol should be added to the chewing gum in such an amount that more than 2 ppm tea polyphenols are contained in about 50 ml saliva.
Therefore, on consideration of the amount of tea polyphenol eluted from the above described chewing gum, the amount of tea polyphenol to be added to the chewing gum was calculated to be more than 0.03 weight %, preferably 0.5 to 2 weight % in the case where no organic acids are present and more than 0.01 weight %, preferably 0.2 to 1.5 weight % in the presence of organic acids.
The present invention provides a chewing gum which inhibits infectivity of the influenza virus by the addition of tea polyphenols, and inhibits the dissemination (or propagation) of said virus.
An example of a chewing gum composition for use in the present invention is as follows:
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