Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Fat or oil is basic ingredient other than butter in emulsion...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-26
2004-06-22
Paden, Carolyn (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Fat or oil is basic ingredient other than butter in emulsion...
C426S601000, C435S134000, C435S135000, C554S030000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06753032
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a plant sterol-containing fat composition preferably used for fat foods such as margarines, fat spreads, and whip creams.
BACKGROUND ART
A plant sterol has been known from old times to have an effect of inhibiting the absorption of a cholesterol from the small intestine, and used as a plasma cholesterol concentration reducing agent. The cholesterol is required to be dissolved in a bile acid micelle for being absorbed. However, the cholesterol less dissolves in a bile acid, and most thereof is in an emulsion state.
On the other hand, for the plant sterol, it also dissolves in a bile acid micelle in almost the same amount as with the cholesterol. Therefore, if the cholesterol and the plant sterol coexist, the amount of cholesterol to be dissolved in the bile acid micelle is reduced. Further, the absorptivity of plant sterol from the small intestine is low, so that the plant sterol remains within the small intestine lumen. Accordingly, the amount of cholesterol to be dissolved in the bile acid micelle is still limited, thereby inhibiting the absorption of cholesterol. Therefore, in the case of a human that is susceptible to the cholesterol ingested from diets, the plant sterol has been clinically utilized as an effective plasma cholesterol reducing agent.
The plant sterol is contained in vegetable oils and fats, soybean, wheat, and the like. It is ingested through daily diets, but in very small amounts. In view of the present Japanese dietary habits, about 1 to 2 g of the plant sterol is required per day for inhibiting the absorption of cholesterol from diets, and it is difficult to ingest such a large amount of the plant sterol through normal human diets.
Mention may be made of the following ones as the technologies utilizing plant sterols for fat foods.
In Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-26732, there is proposed a method in which the solubility of a plant sterol in a fat and oil is enhanced by increasing the content of a free fatty acid in the oil and fat. With this method, the solubility of the plant sterol in the oil and fat is improved, but the content of the free fatty acid in the oil and fat is high, so that the oil and fat is difficult to directly make commercially available.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 59-147099, there is proposed a method in which deodorized scum is added to an edible oil and fat, and the resulting mixture is purified to increase the plant sterol content of the oil and fat, and in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 57-39736, there is proposed an oil and fat composition to which the plant sterol extracted from an edible oil and fat by using an organic solvent has been added. The content of the plant sterol in each of the oils and fats prepared by the methods is very low, and unsatisfactory.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 57-206336, there is proposed an edible oil and fat containing a plant sterol in an amount of from 0.5 to 30% by weight. However, mere mixing of the plant sterol in an oil and fat does not result in an improvement of the solubility in the oil and fat because of the low solubility of the plant sterol in the oil and fat, and hence the mixture is difficult to use for fat foods.
Thus, in actuality, the plant sterol is little used for fat foods because of its low solubility in an oil and fat.
On the other hand, there is another example in which a plant sterol is used for fat foods by being changed into a plant sterol fatty acid ester to enhance the solubility thereof in a fat or oil.
For example, a salad oil to which a plant sterol fatty acid ester has been added in an amount of from 0.5 to 10% by weight, and an oil and fat composition containing a plant stanol fatty acid ester are proposed in Belgian Patent No. 753648 and Japanese National Phase PCT Laid-Open No. 6-506909, respectively. However, each of these oil and fat compositions requires the addition of an emulsifier when used for the production of a fat food in the emulsion product form, and hence it cannot improve the flavor of the emulsion product.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-127779, there is proposed a food product based on a fat having a specified ratio of a free plant sterol and a plant sterol fatty acid ester. However, the food product described in this publication cannot reduce the amount of the emulsifier when used for the production of a fat food in the emulsion product form.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a plant sterol-containing fat composition capable of providing a cholesterol absorption inhibiting effect, and capable of ensuring no addition of an emulsifier or a reduction in amount of the emulsifier to be added when utilized for production of fat foods in the emulsion product form such as margarines, fat spreads, and whip creams, whereby an emulsion product having no or reduced flavor characteristic of the emulsifier can be obtained.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has attained the foregoing object by providing a plant sterol-containing fat composition comprising a plant sterol fatty acid ester (A); and from 10 to 70% by weight of a partial glyceride (B).
Further, the present invention provides, as the preferred method for producing the foregoing plant sterol-containing fat composition of the present invention, a process for producing a plant sterol-containing fat composition, comprising: effecting the esterification reaction of a plant sterol, and a partial glyceride and/or a triglyceride under solventless conditions by using a lipase or an alkali as a catalyst.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Below, first, a detailed description will be given to a plant sterol-containing fat composition of the present invention.
The plant sterol constituting a plant sterol fatty acid ester of a component (A) of the plant sterol-containing fat composition of the present invention has no particular restriction, and mention may be made of, for example, plant sterols such as &bgr;-sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol, and Brassica sterol, and plant stanols obtained by hydrogenating these plant sterols, and one or more than one selected from these examples are used The preferred plant sterols are the ones containing one or more than one selected from &bgr;-sitosterol, &bgr;-sitostanol, campesterol, and campestanol.
The fatty acid constituting the plant sterol fatty acid ester (A) has no particular restriction, and mention may be made of preferably saturated and unsaturated fatty acids having from 4 to 24 carbon atoms. Out of these, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids having from 16 to 24 carbon atoms are preferably contained, and unsaturated fatty acids having from 16 to 24 carbon atoms are more preferably contained.
The plant sterol fatty acid ester (A) is contained in the plant sterol-containing fat composition in an amount of preferably 1% by weight or more, more preferably 3% by weight or more, and most preferably 5% by weight or more.
Whereas, a partial glyceride of a component (B) of the plant sterol-containing fat composition of the present invention denotes monoglyceride and/or diglyceride.
In the partial glyceride, the weight ratio E/F of diglyceride (E) to monoglyceride (F) is preferably 5 or more, and more preferably 6 or more. If the weight ratio E/F is less than 5, smoking tends to occur when the plant sterol-containing fat composition is used as a fat composition for cooking or frying which is heated during cooking.
The fatty acid constituting the partial glyceride (B) has no particular restriction, and mention may be made of the same fatty acids as the fatty acids exemplified above as the fatty acids constituting the plant sterol fatty acid ester (A). It is preferable that the fatty acid composition constituting the partial glyceride (B) is substantially the same as the fatty acid composition constituting the plant sterol fatty acid ester (A).
The partial glyceride (B) is contained in the plant sterol-containing fat composition in an amount of from 10 to 70% by weight, preferably from 15 to 65% by weight, a
Hirokawa Toshiyuki
Maruzeni Shoji
Suzuki Kazuaki
Asahi Denka Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Paden Carolyn
Young & Thompson
LandOfFree
Vegetable sterol-containing fat compositions and process for... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Vegetable sterol-containing fat compositions and process for..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Vegetable sterol-containing fat compositions and process for... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3333263