ANTIOXIDATIVE MAILLARD REACTION PRODUCTS. I. PRODUCTS FROM SUGARS AND FREE AMINO ACIDS

Abstract

Maillard reaction products (MRP) obtained by reaction of glucose, fructose or xylose with arginine, cysteine, glutamic acid, histidine, lysine or valine were studied with regard to their antioxidative properties. Model systems consisting of emulgated linoleic acid were used to evaluate the antioxidative effect of the MRP. The antioxidative effect was found to be strongly dependent on the choice of reactants, especially the amino acid. While MRP from glutamic acid with glucose or fructose showed no antioxidative properties, potent antioxidative products were obtained from, for example, histidine or lysine with any of the three sugars, or from arginine with xylose only. The reaction between histidine and glucose was studied with regard to the influence of pH and of the molar ratio of amino acid to sugar on the antioxidative effect of the MRP formed. Neutral or slightly basic initial pH was found to favor the production of antioxidative products. Furthermore, the antioxidative effect was found to be more favored by a high histidine concentration than by a high glucose concentration.