Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Product with added vitamin or derivative thereof for...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-07
2002-10-01
Pratt, Helen (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Product with added vitamin or derivative thereof for...
C426S074000, C426S573000, C426S575000, C426S577000, C426S590000, C426S648000, C426S801000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06458395
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to gelatinous food products for supplying balanced nutrition, particularly the gelatinous food products which contain all the essential nutrients, and which have a refreshing taste because of their pH of 3.3 to 4, and which is a composite of a gel formed with a gelling agent and an isoelectric gel of the protein, the composite producing good eating qualities, for instance, ease of swallowing owing to the soft gel form.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventionally, jellies made by setting beverages with agars or gelatins and gelatinous foods such as puddings, yogurts and aspics are known as foods for supplying water and nutrients to patients suffering from dysphagia (swallowing difficulty), typically elderly patients and patients with cerebrovascular diseases. If a substantially nonviscous liquid such as water or tea is carelessly given to patients with dysphagia, the liquid cannot be swallowed properly and may enter the trachea, increasing the risk of pneumonia, or threatening the life in extreme cases. The jellies or gelatinous foods are provided to the patients in order to avoid such risks.
Foods for patients with dysphagia are required to have the following properties. First, they should contain all the essential nutrients in suitable proportions for giving the patients sufficient nutrition. Further, they should have appropriate firmness and consistency that enable easy swallowing or easy chewing; should be cohesive in the mouth without separation; and should pass through the throat smoothly when swallowed.
However, the above-mentioned jellies and jellylike products such as puddings are usually produced or supplied as non-nutritional foods for healthy people, and thus cannot provide sufficient and well balanced nutrition to patients with dysphagia. In addition, these products still require chewing, and cannot be swallowed without chewing. That is, such products are insufficient in qualities necessary for taking in merely by swallowing.
In recent years, new food products, jellylike beverages of several kinds, have been on the soft drink market. These beverages are provided in the form of jellies, which are to be crushed by, for example, shaking, before drinking. Their unique drinking qualities, i.e., interesting swallowing characteristics and textural properties, suit the tastes of people today and attract their attention.
However, the jellylike beverages are also produced for healthy people, and do not have ingredients suitable for nutrition of patients with dysphagia. Although these beverages have an acidic pH close to that of ordinary soft drinks and thus have good storage stability, they do not contain substantial quantities of proteins or lipids. That is, these beverages do not comprise ingredients suitable for nutrition of patients with dysphagia, i.e., all the essential nutrients in suitable proportions. They are not even intended to have such makeup.
Further, protein-rich foods, such as puddings, are usually required to be sterilized by heating at 100° C. or higher (generally at 120° C. for 10 minutes), since they are adjusted to a neutral pH. The sterilization treatment causes the loss of nutrients (in particular, vitamins) or deterioration of the taste and flavor. If these foods are adjusted to an acidic pH to impart a refreshing taste, they have nonuniform texture due to coagulation of protein and thus are in no way refreshing. Further, such products, if having an acidic pH, are decomposed in a short period when exposed to the air.
As discussed above, nutritionally balanced food products remain to be developed which are suitable as foods for patients with dysphagia and which can be swallowed without chewing.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to provide a novel gelatinous food product particularly suitable for nutrition of patients with dysphagia, the product comprising all the essential nutrients in suitable proportions and having the form of a soft jelly that can be readily eaten by patients with dysphagia.
The present inventors carried out extensive research to achieve the above object and found the following. As to food products to be swallowed without chewing, people, including patients with dysphagia, consider those having an acidic pH to be palatable. On the other hand, protein, one of the essential nutrients, greatly changes in its properties at the isoelectic point, and therefore does not form a homogeneous gel at an acidic pH that makes the food products palatable.
They carried out further research and found that, when specific amounts of lipid, saccharide, organic acid, organic acid salt, emulsifying agent and gelling agent are added to a protein so as to obtain an emulsion having an acidic pH equal or close to the isoelectric point of the protein, a composite of an isoelectric gel of the protein and a gel formed with the gelling agent is obtained, which is soft and homogeneous and capable of being swallowed without chewing. The present invention has been accomplished base on this novel finding.
The present invention provides a gelatinous food product for supplying balanced nutrition, which is a gel of an emulsified mixture comprising 10 to 50 wt. % of the combined amount of the ingredients listed below (on a dry weight basis) and 50 to 90 wt. % of water, and which has a pH of 3.3 to 4, and which is a composite of an isoelectric gel of the protein and a heat-soluble gel formed with the gelling agent.
Saccharide
30-90
wt. %
Lipid
5-40
wt. %
Protein
2-60
wt. %
Organic acid
0.2-5
wt. %
Organic acid salt
0.2-5
wt. %
Emulsifying agent
0.2-5
wt. %
Gelling agent
0.2-5
wt. %
The gelatinous food product of the invention has the form of a soft gel particularly suitable as a food for patients with dysphagia. The food product can be easily sheared or crushed, and the sheared or crushed product releases a suitable amount (about 2 to 20%) of water. Accordingly, the food product has excellent eating qualities and textural properties so that it can be readily crushed in the mouth by, for example, pressing with the tongue, without chewing, and smoothly passes through the throat. In particular, the food product of the invention is characterized in that it comprises protein, lipid and other nutrients that are not present in conventional soft drinks, and still retains the excellent eating qualities and textural properties.
Further, the gelatinous food product of the invention, which comprises suitable and sufficient proportions of protein, lipid and other nutrients essential to the human body as shown above, can effectively supply nutrition when ingested.
Furthermore, the gelatinous food product of the invention has a refreshing taste and good storage stability because of its pH of 3.3 to 4, preferably 3.5 to 4. Moreover, in spite of the acidic pH, the food product of the invention is free from grains of coagulated protein, and has smoothness and homogeneity that impart good eating qualities and textural properties to the food product.
The ingredients of the gelatinous food product of the invention are described below in detail.
Saccharide
The saccharide for use in the gelatinous food product of the invention is one of the essential nutrients, and can be selected from ones capable of being stored in the form of glycogen in the liver or muscle and serving as an energy source for physical activities. Examples of such saccharides include various ordinary saccharides such as monosaccharides (e.g., glucose and fructose) and disaccharides (e.g., maltose and sucrose); sugar alcohols such as xylitol, sorbitol, glycerine and erythritol; polysaccharides such as dextrin and cyclodextrin; and oligosaccharides such as fructo oligosaccharide, galacto oligosaccharide and lactosucrose. These saccharides can be used singly or in combination. When two or more saccharides are used in combination, commercially available saccharide mixtures, for example, isomerized sugar or purified sucrose are of course usable.
Usable saccharides include those serving not only as nutrients but also as sweeteners, such as sucrose. Saccharides servi
Otsuka Foods Co., Ltd.
Pratt Helen
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