Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Product with added plural inorganic mineral or element...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-18
2002-05-07
Paden, Carolyn (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Product with added plural inorganic mineral or element...
C426S590000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06383534
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a consumable mineral water composition containing a blend of minerals and trace elements, a probiotic agent that selectively promotes growth of bifidobacterium over other intestinal flora, and further contains a mineral acid and a carboxylic acid; and may further contain ascorbic acid and silica.
BACKGROUND
The need for minerals and trace elements are well known in the nutritional and holistic arts. Potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium ions are the predominant metal ions in the cytoplasm of a cell. Many of these minerals and trace elements are used as cofactors, activators, or stabilizers bound to enzymes, proteins, nucleic acids or other biochemicals. Calcium ion combines with phosphate ion to comprise bone matrix. Iron is at the center of a heme group that make up hemoglobin, a metalloprotein that binds oxygen for respiration. Magnesium or manganese ion binds with adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to form the absolutely required substrate used in most ATP-dependent enzymatic reactions. The trace element selenium is required by the enzyme superoxide dismutase for effective catalysis. Fluoride binds to the enamel of your teeth, thereby inhibiting tooth decay. Iodine is another trace element needed for proper function of the thyroid gland. Silicon is an essential element required for normal growth development, especially with bones and connective tissue (Nielsen, F. H. in Prasad, A. S., ed. Essential and Toxic Trace Elements in Human Health and Disease: An Update:355-376. New York: Wiley-Liss, 1993).
Proper intestinal health, such as that brought on by certain intestinal microorganisms, helps the intestine to absorb those minerals and trace elements that the body minimally requires. Without a healthy intestine, the body often reacts with diarrhea that not only depletes water from the system, thereby creating dangerous levels of dehydration, but also a loss of minerals and trace elements. A substantial loss of electrolytes during diarrhea can cause death.
Bifidobacteria are one component of the intestinal flora of man and other mammals. These bacteria are not pathogenic, but are known to inhibit other pathogenic, intestinal bacteria because of their ability to produce acetic acid, lactic acid, and propionic acid, a known antimicrobial. They are also known to produce bioactive compounds that provide protective health benefits to their hosts. It is well known in the art that having a dominating culture of bifidobacteria in the intestine can improve health. For instance, it has been noted that breast-fed neonates have mostly pure cultures of bifidobacteria in their intestines and are therefore less susceptible to enteral infection compared to bottle-fed neonates that have sparse populations of bifidobacteria. Other U.S. patents (Brassart, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,664, issued Feb. 27, 1996) have proposed ingestion of pure cultures of Bifidobacteria species to establish and maintain proper intestinal health. Some have proposed that bifidobacteria have an immuno-potentiating effect, and a prophylactic effect that arises from the competitive microbial exclusion that results in a decreased production of toxins and carcinogenic substances from pathogenic bacteria.
There is a need to promote the growth of intestinal bifidobacteria, so that the potential health-inducing effects can be exploited by the users. This has fueled the need for continuing research in the field of chemicals and conditions, essentially “bifidus growth factors” that encourage the preferential growth of intestinal bifidobacteria.
The two recognized requirements for a bifidus growth factor are that it: 1) not be digested and absorbed in the upper digestive tract but reaches the ileum and large colon, where the bifidobacteria are located; and, 2) that it be efficiently metabolized by bifidobacteria and under-utilized or not utilized by other intestinal bacteria. Most prior work on bifidus growth factors has focused on the use and incorporation of oligosaccharides, specifically fructo-oligosaccharides, into various kinds of foodstuffs and drinks.
However, oligosaccharides have not generally fulfilled the requirements for a bifidus growth factor. For instance, fructo-oligosaccharides have the disadvantage that they are broken down by stomach acids (hydrochloric acid) and are partly absorbed in the small intestines. Other candidates, such as isomalto-oligosaccharides are mostly digested and absorbed in the small intestine prior to reaching the bifidobacterium resident in the colon. Conversely, galacto-oligosaccharides are mostly undigested and unabsorbed prior to the colon, but instead suffer from economic disadvantages relating to high production costs resulting from low manufacturing yields, thereby becoming commercially nonviable.
The low selectivity of bifidobacterium for all three of the aforementioned oligosaccharides relative to their utilization by the other intestinal flora is not ideal. As a result, there must be a large intake of oligosaccharides to achieve the desired effect upon the bifidobacteria in the colon. Thus, the growth of bifidobacteria varieties and competing bacteria is promoted simultaneously, resulting in a less than optimum ratio of bifido to other species. This situation has created a need for a better probiotic agent to selectively promote the growth of bifidobacteria in the alimentary tract.
In the instant invention, the concept of using a mineral water blend combined with a selective bifidobacterium probiotic agent to improve intestinal, as well as overall health is believed to be novel.
There is therefore a need to provide a new composition comprised of a mineral water blend and a bifidobacterium probiotic agent that overcomes the problems of prior agents, which problems include selectivity of the agent over other intestinal flora, limiting digestion, and absorption of the agent in the upper digestive tract.
An object of the invention is to provide beverages comprising minerals and trace elements, along with a selective bifidobacterium probiotic agent to provides continuing mineral and trace element nutrition and intestinal health to those who consume it.
Another object of the invention is to provide compositions which are additive to beverages and foods for man and other animals.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a combination of mineral ions, mineral and trace element complexes, as well as a bifidobacterium probiotic agent that together promote the well being of the user, by allowing the uptake of acidic vitamins, and the uptake of silicon in the form of a silica dioxide.
It is another object of the present invention to maintain the solubilization of the minerals and trace elements, by including chemical agents that chelate or complex the ions in solution, thereby preventing precipitation, and enhancing absorption.
It is still another object to provide a new beverage containing the mineral water blend and bifidobacterium probiotic agent that can be used with a variety of different carriers and foodstuffs.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a means for providing both concentrates and dilutions of the beverage or composition over a wide range of concentrations.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide for an inexpensive composition that is simple, user-friendly, requires minimal preparation, and that can be freely utilized across a broad range of carriers and foods.
The aforementioned background has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the present invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention as will be described. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the following written disclosure of the Detailed Description of the Invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The pr
Dyrr Lorin
Thomas Seymour
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