JPH0242465B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention provides sweetener granules or cubes containing α-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester (hereinafter referred to as aspartame) and maltitol, which are non-caloric or low-calorie and have excellent physical properties and sweetness quality. Concerning the manufacturing method. Aspartame is a low-calorie sweetener that is characterized by its sharp sweetness, but its bulk powder is fine needle-shaped crystals that have low dispersibility and solubility in water, and are about 200 times as sweet as sucrose. (Varies depending on concentration or differences in coexisting substances, etc.)
It has a high degree of sweetness. These points form the excellent characteristics of aspartame, such as being difficult to absorb moisture and being almost non-caloric, but on the other hand, when used as is on a tabletop, etc., it has a slow dispersion and dissolution rate.
This causes problems such as difficulty in adjusting the sweetness level. As a method to eliminate various restrictions when using aspartame for tabletop purposes, for example,
Examples include a method of granulating with an excipient to improve dispersion and solubility and diluting the sweetness with the excipient. Although this method can contribute to improving the dispersibility and solubility of aspartame, on the contrary, the taste, flavor, and calories of the excipient itself impair the excellent characteristics obtained when using aspartame alone. It happens. For this reason, there is a strong desire to develop excipients that are not accompanied by an increase in calories and are also satisfying in terms of taste and flavor. On the other hand, maltitol, especially maltitol in the form of crystalline powder, is non-calorie or low-calorie and has good taste and physical properties, and can be said to be a suitable excipient for using aspartame in tabletop applications. When producing a granular or cube-shaped sweetener using maltitol and aspartame,
The following problems arise. In other words, when powdered maltitol is simply wet-granulated or wet-compression molded together with aspartame using an aqueous solution of water, starch, dextrin, etc., maltitol and water interact during the granulation or molding process. In the granulation process, the viscosity of the granules increases,
Granulation is likely to become impossible. In addition, during the storage stage, the granulated product becomes more hygroscopic than the raw material powdered maltitol, and its powder fluidity and moisture absorption and caking properties become higher. Therefore, in addition to interfering with granulation and molding and being inconvenient when used on a tabletop, browning and decomposition of aspartame are likely to progress, resulting in loss of commercial value as sweetener granules or cubes. be exposed. The present inventors have made extensive studies to utilize the characteristics of aspartame and maltitol, effectively utilize maltitol as an excipient, and obtain sweetener granules or cubes that are fully satisfactory in terms of physical properties and taste. It has been found that the above problems can be solved by using alcohols as the binder. The present invention has been completed based on this knowledge, and in the production of sweetener granules or cubes containing aspartame and maltitol, powdered aspartame and maltitol are mixed and used as a binder with a water content of 50% by weight or less. This is a method for producing sweetener granules or cubes, which is characterized by wet granulation or wet compression molding using alcohol or an aqueous alcohol solution. The present invention will be explained in detail below. In the present invention, powdered aspartame and powdered maltitol are mixed and used. The particle size of the powder is not particularly limited, but it is desirable to have a particle size that allows aspartame and maltitol to be mixed uniformly and to be granulated with a smaller amount of binder. If the aspartame and maltitol are solidified, it is premixed with part or all of aspartame and maltitol, and then pulverized before use. The optimal weight ratio of aspartame and maltitol varies depending on the desired granule, weight volume of the cube, sweetness level, whether or not other excipients are used together, etc. If the weight of toll and other excipients is too small, problems with physical properties of aspartame such as solubility, dispersibility, fluidity, and scattering properties will not be improved, resulting in problems in handling during measurement. On the other hand, it is desirable that maltitol (or maltitol and other excipients) be 25 to 99% by weight based on the total weight. As the binder, alcohols or alcohol aqueous solutions with a water content of 50% by weight or less are used. As the alcohol, ethanol, methanol, and other commonly used alcohols can be used. The amount of the binder added is about 1 to 30% by weight, preferably 1 to 20% by weight, based on the powder raw material, and this amount functions as a binder and can be used in the granulation or cube molding process and the drying process. Almost no loss of sweetness occurs. By the way, in the case of conventional aspartame preparations,
Compared to the present invention, at least several tens to hundreds of times more aqueous solvent is added, and there are process difficulties associated with once dissolving aspartame, which has low dispersion and solubility, in such a large amount of aqueous solvent. Furthermore, aspartame, which is unstable to heat and moisture, is expected to lose sweetness when heated with a large amount of moisture at high temperatures or for a long time, whereas in the present invention, the amount of alcohol added is 1. ~30% by weight is sufficient, there is no need to dissolve or slurry, and both aspartame and maltitol can be efficiently granulated or cubed in a stable state. A powder raw material containing aspartame and maltitol is wet-granulated or wet-compression molded using an alcohol as a binder. Any granulation method can be used as long as it is a wet granulation method for powder raw materials.
The method should be selected as appropriate depending on the shape, size, strength, etc. of the desired granules, but for example, extrusion granulation, flow granulation, stirring granulation, or compression granulation methods are preferred. Extrusion granulation is a method in which a binder is added to raw material powder and the mixture is extruded through holes of a certain size in a mesh or die. The optimal amount of alcohol or alcohol aqueous solution to be added is 1 to 10%. Fluidized granulation is a granulation method in which powder raw materials are made to flow in a fluidized bed using air, and moisture is added to this to generate an appropriate amount of nuclei while the particles themselves grow. The amount of binder can be adjusted according to the requirements. In the case of the present invention, the amount of alcohol or alcohol aqueous solution is 10 to 30%. In stirring granulation, a small amount of binder is added while stirring and mixing the powder raw materials, and the mixture is appropriately kneaded to form granules. In the compression granulation method, a powder raw material is moistened with a small amount of binder, compressed into tablets or compressed using a roll compressor, and then crushed and sieved. Wet compression molding includes compression molding, mold molding, etc.
This may be done in accordance with a conventional method, and the shape is not limited to a cubic shape, but may be a flat domino shape, a spherical shape, or any other shape of your choice. When performing wet compression molding,
The powder raw material may be used as it is, but the powder raw material may be granulated in advance and then molded. The optimum amount of alcohol or alcohol aqueous solution added in wet compression molding is 0.5 to 7%. The resulting sweetener granules or cubes are then
Dry as necessary. The drying method is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to use ventilation drying, vacuum drying, fluidized drying, or the like, and to perform the drying at a temperature of 50°C to 110°C. In addition, in addition to the above-mentioned raw materials such as aspartame, maltitol, alcohols, etc., the concomitant use of quality improvers, flavors, and other substances in the sweetener granules or cubes of the present invention will not hinder the achievement of the objectives of the present invention. Needless to say, it cannot be excluded unless there is. As detailed above, the method for producing sweetener granules or cubes of the present invention allows the high sweetness of aspartame to be diluted with maltitol without adding calories, and also prevents maltitol powder (crystals) from caking due to moisture absorption. It is possible to obtain sweetener granules or cubes with physical properties particularly suitable for use as a tabletop sweetener, while also preventing the production of aspartame, which is easy to operate in the manufacturing process, has little heat load on aspartame, and is advantageous in terms of energy and cost. It has the following merits. Next, the present invention will be further explained with reference to Examples. Example 1 Combination of sweetener granules (A) Aspartame 2 parts by weight Maltitol (anhydrous crystals) 95 〃 Ethanol 99% by weight aqueous solution 3 〃 According to the above formulation, raw materials except ethanol are mixed, then ethanol is added and kneaded, and extruded. It was extruded using a granulator (Hata Iron Works HV-G), and the granulated product was fluidized and dried, and then sieved to obtain a product of 80 to 14 mesh. As a control, when we attempted to produce sweetener granules in the same manner as above by substituting water for ethanol, the action of the stirring blades of the extrusion granulator increased the stickiness of the powder, making it impossible to extrude it. Example 2 Combination of sweetener granules (B) Aspartame 4 parts by weight Maltitol 48 〃 Dextrin 48 〃 The above mixture was sprayed at 15% with hot air at an inlet temperature of 40 to 70°C using an 85% ethanol aqueous solution as a binder. After addition and fluidized granulation, the granulated product obtained by drying with hot air at 60 to 90°C was sieved to 80 to 14 mesh to obtain sweetener granules (B). The results of measuring the physical properties of this sweetener granule (B) are
Shown in the table. Regarding solubility, water was filled in a 200 c.c. beaker, approximately 1 g of the sample was added to the beaker with gentle stirring using a magnetic stirrer, and the dissolution time was measured.

[Table] As a control, sweetener granules were produced in the same manner as above except that ethanol was replaced with water, and the resulting two types of sweeteners were placed in a constant temperature and humidity chamber at 20°C and 44% relative humidity for 7 days.
The sample was left to stand for several days, and changes in moisture absorption and caking properties were measured. The results are shown in Table 2.

[Table] Example 3 Aspartame 12 parts by weight Maltitol 83 〃 Ethanol 80% by weight aqueous solution 5〃 After kneading the above blended product in a kneader, it was molded in a mold and dried at 80°C for 1 hour in a hot air dryer. , sweetener cube (0.5cm x 0.5cm x 0.5cm, approx.
0.16g/piece) was prepared and its physical properties and sensory properties were evaluated. The results are shown in Table 3.

【table】

[Table] As a control, when an attempt was made to produce a sweetener in the same manner as above by substituting water for ethanol, the pestle of the mold became unable to move due to stickiness.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In the production of sweetener granules or cubes containing α-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester and maltitol, powdered α-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester and maltitol are mixed. A method for producing sweetener granules or cubes, which comprises carrying out wet granulation or wet compression molding using an alcohol or an aqueous alcohol solution having a water content of 50% by weight or less as a binder.