FLAVOUR ADDITIVES

Abstract

The present invention relates to the use of a first amino acid selected from the group consisting of glycine, alanine, cysteine, histidine, leucine, methionine, phenylalanine, serine, tryptophan and tyrosine or a mixture of two or more thereof; a second amino acid selected from the group consisting of aspartic acid, cystine, glutamic acid, glutamine, isoleucine, lysine, aspartic acid, ornithine, threonine, valine, proline and hydroxyproline or a mixture of two or more thereof and one or more furanones for increasing the palatability of a foodstuff to a companion animal. The invention also relates to a pet foodstuff or supplement comprising a first amino acid selected from the group consisting of glycine, alanine, cysteine, histidine, leucine, methionine, phenylalanine, serine, tryptophan and tyrosine or a mixture of two or more thereof; a second amino acid selected from the group consisting of aspartic acid, cystine, glutamic acid, glutamine, isoleucine, lysine, aspartic acid, ornithine, threonine, valine, proline and hydroxyproline or a mixture of two or more furanones, and also a method of increasing the palatability of a foodstuff to a companion animal.

Claims

1-17. (canceled)

18. Water for cats that has increased palatability comprising: (a) a first free amino acid that activates a cat umami receptor that is present at a concentration between about 20 mM and about 50 mM; (b) a second free amino acid that does not activate the cat umami receptor that is present at a concentration between about 20 mM and about 50 mM; and (c) a furanone that is present at a concentration between about 1 ppm and about 10 ppm; wherein the first free amino histidine and the second free amino acid is proline.

19. The water of claim 18, wherein the furanone is selected from the group consisting of furaneol, homofuraneol, sotolon, norfuraneol, abhexon, mesifuranone, and dimethoxyfuranone.

20. The water of claim 19, wherein the furanone is selected from the group consisting of furaneol.

21. The water of claim 18, wherein the first free amino acid is present at a concentration between about 20 mM and about 30 mM, and the second free amino acid is present at a concentration between about 20 mM and about 30 mM.

22. The water of claim 18, wherein the furanone is present at a concentration between about 2 ppm and about 5 ppm.

23. Water for cats that has increased palatability comprising a first free amino acid that activates a cat umami receptor that is present at a concentration between about 20 mM and about 50 mM, and a second free amino acid that does not activate the cat umami receptor that is present at a concentration between about 20 mM and about 50 mM; wherein (a) the first free amino histidine and the second free amino acid is proline; (b) the first free amino acid is alanine and the second free amino acid is threonine; (c) the first free amino acid is glycine and the second free amino acid is threonine.

24. The water of claim 23, wherein the first free amino histidine and the second free amino acid is proline.

25. The water of claim 23, wherein the first free amino acid is alanine and the second free amino acid is threonine.

26. The water of claim 23, wherein the first free amino acid is glycine and the second free amino acid is threonine.

27. The water of claim 23, wherein the first free amino acid is present at a concentration between about 20 mM and about 30 mM, and the second free amino acid is present at a concentration between about 20 mM and about 30 mM.

28. The water of claim 27, wherein the first free amino acid is present at a concentration of about 25 mM, and the second free amino acid is present at a concentration of about 25 mM.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0051] The invention will now be described in reference to the following Figures and Examples in which:

[0052] FIG. 1 shows the results in a difference test of a composition comprising 25 mM proline+25 mM histidine with a composition comprising 50 mM histidine only;

[0053] FIG. 2 shows the results in a difference test of a composition comprising 25 mM proline+25 mM histidine with a composition comprising 50 mM proline only;

[0054] FIG. 3 shows the results in a difference test of a composition comprising 25 mM threonine+25 mM histidine with a composition comprising 50 mM threonine only;

[0055] FIG. 4 shows the results in a difference test of a composition comprising 25 mM alanine+25 mM threonine with a composition comprising 50 mM alanine only.

[0056] FIG. 5 shows the results in a difference test of a composition comprising 25 mM alanine+25 mM threonine with a composition comprising 50 mM threonine only;

[0057] FIG. 6 shows the results in a difference test of a composition comprising 25 mM glycine+25 mM threonine with a composition comprising 50 mM glycine only;

[0058] FIG. 7 shows the results in a difference test of a composition comprising 25 mM glycine+25 mM threonine with a composition comprising 50 mM threonine only;

[0059] FIG. 8 shows the results of a difference test of a composition comprising 25 mM histidine+25 mM proline+4 ppm furaneol with a composition comprising 25 mM proline+25 mM histidine;

[0060] FIG. 9 shows the resulting dose response curves of each first amino acid of the invention that were screened in vitro for their ability to activate the T1R1/T1R3 receptor in the presence of 0.2 mM IMP—the corresponding EC50 values are shown in the table;

[0061] FIG. 10 shows the resulting dose response curves of some second amino acids of the invention that were screened in vitro for their ability to activate the T1R1/T1R3 receptor in the presence of 0.2 mM IMP—the corresponding EC50 values are shown in the table;

[0062] FIG. 11 shows the predicted structure of the T1R1/T1R3 umami receptor;

[0063] FIG. 12 shows a schematic of the predicted structure of the umami receptor; and

[0064] FIG. 13 shows a sequence alignment of the human, feline and canine umami receptors.

EXAMPLES

[0065] All amino acids of the examples are of the L-form.

Example 1

[0066] Cats were allowed access to water containing either 25 mM proline+25 mM histidine with a composition comprising 50 mM histidine. The methodology used a 2-bottle choice test with 24 cats (the final number of cats for each test can vary due to data being discarded by spillage, etc.). Cats were housed individually during trial periods and had free access to water available between testing periods. The test involved a choice test between the tastant/mixture at a given concentration dissolved in deionised water versus deionised water only or another tastant/mixture. Control was made for positional bias (e.g. A/B exposure 1 and B/A exposure 2) and evaporation loss. The testing time was 36 hours (i.e. 18 hours per day, allowing a two-day crossover). Following two consecutive days of each testing, cats had two consecutive days of rest. Cats were offered a dry diet as a single meal at the start of the test period for one hour, calculated to meet the individual requirements for each cat.

[0067] The results are shown in the table below, and in FIG. 1.

TABLE-US-00002 Analysis of Intake g ANOVA Table for Fixed Effects Degrees of Freedom Factor Numerator Denominator F-value P-value Product Difference 1 23 15.78 0.0006

TABLE-US-00003 Table of Mean Product Difference, Standard Error & 95% Confidence Intervals 95% Confidence Standard Interval Product Difference Mean Error Lower Upper Histidine − His + Pro −43.60 10.98 −66.30 −20.89

[0068] It can be seen that the amount of proline+histidine intake was on average 43.60 g more than histidine alone intake, i.e. the combination of proline and histidine was significantly preferable to the animals over histidine alone.

Example 2

[0069] The difference test was carried out as for Example 1, however, the composition containing 25 mM proline+25 mM histidine was compared with a composition containing 50 mM proline only.

[0070] The results are shown below and in FIG. 2.

TABLE-US-00004 Analysis of Intake g ANOVA Table for Fixed Effects Degrees of Freedom Factor Numerator Denominator F-value P-value Product Difference 1 24 26.95 0.0000* *0.0000 indicates a figure of less than 0.0001.

TABLE-US-00005 Table of Mean Product Difference, Standard Error & 95% Confidence Intervals 95% Confidence Standard Interval Product Difference Mean Error Lower Upper Proline − His + Pro −56.07 10.80 −78.36 −33.78

[0071] It can be seen that the amount of proline+histidine intake was on average 56.07 g more than proline alone intake, i.e. the combination of proline and histidine was significantly preferable to the animals over proline alone.

Example 3

[0072] The difference test was carried out as for Example 1, however, a composition containing 25 mM threonine+25 mM histidine was compared with a composition containing 50 mM threonine only.

[0073] The results are shown below and in FIG. 3.

TABLE-US-00006 Analysis of Intake g ANOVA Table for Fixed Effects Degrees of Freedom Factor Numerator Denominator F-value P-value Product Difference 1 23 34.58 0.0000

TABLE-US-00007 Table of Mean Product Difference, Standard Error & 95% Confidence Intervals 95% Confidence Standard Interval Product Difference Mean Error Lower Upper Threonine − His + Thr −34.48 5.86 −46.61 −22.35

[0074] It can be seen that the amount of threonine+histidine intake was on average 34.48 g more than threonine alone intake, i.e. the combination of threonine and histidine was significantly preferable to the animals over threonine alone.

Example 4

[0075] A difference test was carried out as for Example 1, however, a composition containing 25 mM alanine+25 mM threonine was compared with a composition containing 50 mM alanine only.

[0076] The results are shown below and in FIG. 4

TABLE-US-00008 ANOVA Table for Fixed Effects Degrees of Freedom Factor Numerator Denominator F-value P-value Product Difference 1 23 0.91 0.3499

TABLE-US-00009 Table of Mean Product Difference, Standard Error & 95% Confidence Intervals 95% Confidence Standard Interval Product Difference Mean Error Lower Upper Ala + Thr − 2 × Ala 5.17 5.41 −6.03 16.36

[0077] It can be seen that the amount of alanine+threonine intake was on average 5.17 g more than alanine alone intake, i.e. the combination of alanine+threonine was preferable over alanine alone.

Example 5

[0078] A difference test was carried out as for Example 1, however, a composition containing 25 mM threonine+25 mM alanine was compared with a composition containing 50 mM threonine only.

[0079] The results are shown below and in FIG. 5

TABLE-US-00010 Analysis of Intake g ANOVA Table for Fixed Effects Degrees of Freedom Factor Numerator Denominator F-value P-value Product Difference 1 23 5.30 0.0307

TABLE-US-00011 Table of Mean Product Difference, Standard Error & 95% Confidence Intervals 95% Confidence Standard Interval Product Difference Mean Error Lower Upper 2 × Thr − Ala + Thr −11.80 5.12 −22.40 −1.20

[0080] It can be seen that the amount of threonine+alanine intake was on average 11.80 g more than threonine alone intake, i.e. the combination of threonine and alanine was significantly preferable to the animals over threonine alone.

Example 6

[0081] A difference test was carried out as for Example 1, however, a composition containing 25 mM glycine+25 mM threonine was compared with a composition 50 mM glycine.

[0082] The results are shown below and in FIG. 6

TABLE-US-00012 ANOVA Table for Fixed Effects Degrees of Freedom Factor Numerator Denominator F-value P-value Product Difference 1 23 0.80 0.3818

TABLE-US-00013 Table of Mean Product Difference, Standard Error & 95% Confidence Intervals 95% Confidence Standard Interval Product Difference Mean Error Lower Upper Gly + Thr − 2 × Gly 5.26 5.90 −6.95 17.47

[0083] It can be seen that the amount of glycine+threonine intake was on average 5.26 g more than glycine intake, i.e. the combination of threonine and glycine was preferable to the animals over glycine alone.

Example 7

[0084] A difference test was carried out as for Example 1, however, a composition containing 25 mM threonine+25 mM glycine was compared with a composition containing 50 mM threonine only.

[0085] The results are shown below and in FIG. 7

TABLE-US-00014 ANOVA Table for Fixed Effects Degrees of Freedom Factor Numerator Denominator F-value P-value Product Difference 1 23 0.38 0.5447

TABLE-US-00015 Table of Mean Product Difference, Standard Error & 95% Confidence Intervals 95% Confidence Standard Interval Product Difference Mean Error Lower Upper Gly + Thr − 2 × Thr 2.46 4.00 −5.81 10.72

[0086] It can be seen that the amount of threonine+glycine intake was on average 2.46 g more than threonine alone intake, i.e. the combination of threonine and glycine was preferable to the animals over threonine alone.

Example 8

[0087] A difference test was carried out as for Example 1, however, a composition containing 25 mM histidine+25 mM proline+4 ppm furaneol was compared with a composition containing 25 mM proline+25 mM histidine.

[0088] The results are shown below and in FIG. 8

TABLE-US-00016 ANOVA Table for Fixed Effects Degrees of Freedom Factor Numerator Denominator F-value P-value Product Difference 1 24 32.43 0.0000

TABLE-US-00017 Table of Mean Product Difference, Standard Error & 95% Confidence Intervals 95% Confidence Standard Interval Product Difference Mean Error Lower Upper His + Pro + Fur − His + Pro 34.84 6.12 22.21 47.47

[0089] It can be seen that the amount of histidine+proline+furaneol intake was on average 34.84 g more than proline+histidine intake, i.e. the combination of histidine+proline+furaneol was significantly preferable to the animals over proline+histidine alone.

Example 9

[0090] In vitro screening was carried out in order to establish which first amino acids bind and activate the umami receptor. Results are shown in FIG. 9.

Example 10

[0091] In vitro screening was carried out in order to establish which second amino acids bind and activate the umami receptor. Results are shown in FIG. 10.