Protein material for slow digestion and its use

Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Designated organic active ingredient containing – Peptide containing doai

Reexamination Certificate

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C514S002600, C514S012200, C530S350000, C530S345000, C530S360000, C530S365000, C424S439000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06355612

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The subject of the invention is the use of protein material whose rate of digestion has been reduced, for the preparation of a composition which makes it possible to modulate the postprandial plasma amino acid level. The subject of the invention is also a composition intended to be administered by the enteral route to a mammal containing a protein material whose rate of digestion has been slowed down.
Because of a constant need for nutrients and the periodic nature of the diet in humans, the body has had to develop processes for storing the nutrients consumed in excess during meals and mechanisms for mobilizing these reserves during the period of physiological starving. The alternation of periods of food consumption and of starving are responsible for profound modifications in the various pathways for the metabolism of nutrients.
These nychthemeral variations affect the synthesis and the degradation of proteins and consequently the protein balance. Thus, the negative protein balance during the period of physiological starving becomes positive during the postprandial period, a phase for assimilating nutrients from the digestive tract. The relative importance of each phase then determines the variation in the body protein mass. It is therefore essential to be able to improve the postprandial protein gain in order to optimize the variation in the protein mass.
The ingestion of meals consisting of proteins causes an increase in the plasma amino acid level. This rise in the availability of amino acids is associated with a rearrangement of the various components of protein metabolism (protein degradation, protein synthesis, amino acid oxidation). Recently, Boirie et al. (
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
, 94, 14930-14935, 1997) have shown in young healthy volunteers that the postprandial protein gain depended on the rate of digestion of the ingested proteins (period between ingestion and absorption of the nutrients by the body).
Some proteins with a fast rate of digestion, such as whey proteins, can have a high nutritive value, that is to say an adequate and balanced supply of amino acids which are essential for the human body, such as valine, leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, lysine, methionine, tryptophan and threonine. However, in spite of this good amino acid balance, the body's use of the amino acids derived from these proteins is not optimum, since they are digested too rapidly. Also, document WO 97/05785 describes a composition used in foods for newborns which contains slow-digesting proteins, said proteins having been modified beforehand so as to slow down the rate of digestion.
Other sources can therefore be used which contain proteins having a naturally slower rate of digestion, such as caseins, for example, but whose amino acids supply and balance are not optimum.
The present invention aims to provide for the nutritional needs of certain categories of people by means of proteins whose rate of digestion is reduced.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention thus relates to the use of a slow-digesting protein material for the preparation of a composition intended to be administered enterally to a mammal so as to modulate the postprandial plasma amino acid level, said protein material having been previously treated so as to convert the fast-digesting proteins which it contains to slow-digesting proteins, characterized in that the slow-digesting protein material is a material containing microparticulate gelled proteins combined with polysaccharides under conditions of thermodynamic incompatibility.
To date, it has never been proposed to reduce the rate of digestion of a protein with the aim of modulating the postprandial plasma amino acid level so as to: a) increase the postprandial protein gain; and/or b) avoid a metabolic overloading of certain organs and/or certain enzymes, and/or c) limit daily food intake by virtue of a satiating effect of these proteins, and/or d) compensate for certain dysfunctions in the metabolism of amino acids and more specifically for enzymatic deficiencies, e) improve the regeneration of tissues, in particular the processes of wound healing.
This treatment is particularly advantageous for proteins of high nutritional value which are digested too rapidly, this being so as to optimize the protein gain.
The subject of the invention is also a composition intended to be administered enterally to a mammal, containing a slow-digesting protein material which has been treated beforehand so as to convert the fast-digesting proteins which it contained to slow-digesting proteins, characterized in that the slow-digesting protein material is a material containing microparticulate gelled proteins combined with polysaccharides under conditions of thermodynamic incompatibility.
The compositions thus obtained may be particularly suitable for: minimizing the losses of body proteins in elderly persons, patients who are seriouly ill and people on a low-calorie diet; patients suffering from renal or hepatic disorders; patients suffering from disfunctions in the metabolism of amino acids such as, for example, hyperphenylalaninemia or other aminoacidopathies; patients treated with L-DOPA; and premature babies.
They may also be intended for the nutrition of pets, in particular that of elderly subjects, the young during the period of growth and for controlling the body weight of some subjects.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In the context of the present invention, a slow-digesting protein material is a material which, when provided in the form of a solution and digested by 140-200 g rats, leads to a disappearance of half of the ingested nitrogen present in the digestive tract in more than 80 min.
Fast protein refers to proteins which, when they are ingested in the form of a solution by 140-200 g rats, leads to a disappearance of half of the ingested nitrogen present in the digestive tract in less than 70 min.
To carry out the present invention, a protein material, that is to say any material comprising proteins, whether they are of animal, plant or microbial origin, in particular proteins of milk, oil-producing plants, leguminous plants, egg or brewery yeasts, for example is used.
The materials containing proteins having a high nutritive value, based on the recommended intakes, are particularly indicated in the context of the present invention. These proteins may contain a balanced and high content of each of the amino acids essential for the body, such as lysine, tryptophan, leucine, isoleucine, valine, phenylalanine, methionine and threonine, for example.
Preferably, the protein-containing material (untreated) comprises fast-digesting proteins, such as for example whey proteins.
The protein-containing material is treated so that the rate of digestion of said proteins is slowed down. To this effect, the protein-containing material is mixed with polysaccharides and, under conditions of thermodynamic incompatibility, form microparticles which are gelled by heat treatment.
Indeed, biopolymers such as proteins and polysaccharides may exhibit thermodynamic incompatibility; that is to say that above a threshold concentration, they do not form a homogeneous mixture and separate spontaneously into two phases. One is enriched in proteins, the other is enriched in polysaccharides. At this initial stage, the separation of the two phases is achieved by formation of microscopic droplets, which may be gelled; in the case of protein droplets, a heat treatment often makes it possible to form a gel. Thus, the protein microparticle formation results from a phase separation and a spontaneous gelling of an aqueous mixture of proteins and polysaccharides (Syrbe, PhD Thesis, Techn. Univ. Munich, 1997).
The polysaccharides according to the present invention may be chosen in particular from alginates, xanthan gum, gum arabic, guar, starch, maltodextrins and dextrins, pectins, kappa-carrageenans, iota-carrageenans, lambda-carrageenans, methyl cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose, sulfated dextrans and/or gellan gum.
The concentration of proteins and polysacchar

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