POROUS STARCH AS BULKING AGENT IN CHEWING-GUMS

Abstract

The present invention relates to the use of porous starch as bulking agent in a chewing gum. The present invention also relates to a process of fabricating the chewing gum and to a chewing gum composition comprising porous starch as bulking agent.

Claims

1. A use of porous starch as bulking agent to replace partially or totally sugars and/or partially polyols such as sugar alcohols in a chewing gum composition.

2. The use according to claim 1, wherein the starch is selected from the group consisting of tapioca starch, waxy tapioca starch, maize starch, pea starch, potato starch, waxy potato starch, wheat starch, waxy wheat starch, waxy maize starch, mung bean starch, rice starch, waxy rice starch, sweet potato starch, waxy sweet potato starch, millet starch, sago starch, sorghum starch, quinoa starch, arrowroot starch, amaranth starch, lotus root starch and buckwheat starch.

3. The use according to claim 1, wherein the starch replaces up to 30%, preferably up to 60% and more preferably up to 100% by weight of the sugars and/or polyol powder such as sugar alcohols as bulking agent in the chewing gum composition.

4. The use according to claim 1, wherein the starch represents from 5% to 65%, preferably from 20% to 55% and more preferably from 40% to 50% by weight with respect to the total weight of the chewing gum composition.

5. The use according to claim 1, wherein the chewing gum composition comprises: from 5% to 70%, preferably from 10% to 55%, and more preferably from 15% to 40% by weight of gum base with respect to the total weight of the chewing gum composition, from 5% to 65%, preferably from 20% to 55%, and more preferably from 40% to 50% by weight of porous starch with respect to the total weight of the chewing gum composition, optionally from 0% to 35%, preferably from 5% to 30%, and more preferably from 10% to 25% by weight of additives with respect to the total weight of the chewing gum composition.

6. The use according to claim 1, wherein the chewing gum is coated with a maltitol coating.

7. A chewing gum composition comprising a bulking agent containing or consisting of a porous starch.

8. A process of fabricating a chewing gum composition comprising the step of adding porous starch as bulking agent.

9. The process according to claim 8, wherein said process does not comprise a step of adding sugars and/or polyol powder such as sugar alcohols as bulking agents.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0086] FIG. 1: scanning electron micrograph of porous waxy maize starch

[0087] FIG. 2: pH-Telemetry results of the chewing gum of example 1 on a volunteer having a young 3-day old plaque.

[0088] FIG. 3: pH-Telemetry results of the chewing gum of example 1 on a volunteer having a mature 4-day old plaque.

EXAMPLES

[0089] In the following examples, the following commercial products are used: [0090] Gum base (optium) commercialized by Cafosa. [0091] Sorbitol commercialized by Roquette. [0092] Liquid maltitol (Lycasin 85/55) commercialized by Roquette. [0093] Aspartame commercialized by Nantong Changhai. [0094] Glycerin commercialized by Wilmar. [0095] Liquid flavor (Mint/Vanilla RQT870565) commercialized by IFF.

[0096] The porous starch used in example 1 was produced according to the following protocol [0097] 1. Suspending native waxy maize starch in decarbonated water to 26% solid content. [0098] 2. Adjusting pH of starch slurry to 7.0 using 3.3% NaOH solution. [0099] 3. Adding thermostable α-amylase (Liquozyme Supra from Novozymes, 2.67 mg enzyme/g dry starch) and reacting at 55° C. for 4 hours. [0100] 4. Stopping the reaction by adjusting the pH to 3-3.5 using 5% hydrochloric acid solution and holding for one hour. [0101] 5. Adjusting back the pH to 4.5-5.5 using 3.3% sodium hydroxide solution. [0102] 6. Cooling the starch slurry to about 25° C. [0103] 7. Press filtering the slurry to obtain porous starch cake. [0104] 8. Washing the cake with decarbonated water. [0105] 9. Drying the cake using a flash dryer into powder with moisture content below 12%.

[0106] The scanning electron micrograph is shown in FIG. 1.

[0107] Example 1: Fermentability of a chewing gum comprising porous starch as a bulking agent instead of sorbitol.

[0108] The recipe of the chewing gum sample to be tested (100% sorbitol substitution) is presented in table 1.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 PARTS BY WEIGHT (%) Tested chewing gum sample (100% INGREDIENTS sorbitol substitution) Original formula Gum base 30 30 Sorbitol (bulking agent) 0 55.1 Porous starch (bulking agent) 47.1 0 Liquid maltitol Lycasin 20 12 85/55 (softener) Aspartame (sweetener) 0.5 0.5 Glycerin (humectant) 1.2 1.2 Liquid flavor (flavoring agent) 1.2 1.2

[0109] The chewing gum sample was prepared according to the following protocol:

1. Mixing all powdered ingredients (powder mix): porous starch and aspartame
2. Loading Procedure (min)—Z blade kneader at 50° C. [0110] 0 min: Introducing the melted gum base (heated on the stove at 50° C.), and half of powder mix. [0111] 2 min: Adding all of liquid maltitol Lycasin 85/55. [0112] 4 min: Adding half of powder mix. [0113] 7 min: Adding glycerin. [0114] 8 min: Adding liquid flavor. [0115] 9 min: Unloading from the kneader.
3. Rolling and cutting in the form of strips
4. Conditioning, which is storing the strips at around 20° C., 50% RH for 24 hours.

[0116] The “toothfriendly quality” of the resulting toothpaste was tested by using a pH-telemetric standardized method. The product was tested in two different volunteers having a young (3-day old) plaque and a mature (4-day old) plaque.

[0117] Results are shown on FIGS. 2 and 3.

[0118] As shown on FIGS. 2 and 3, the obtained plaque pH-curves demonstrated that the tested chewing gum was not associated with a depression of plaque pH below 5.7, neither during nor after 30 min of chewing. The increase of the plaque pH during water rising (W) and paraffin chewing (PC) as well as the drop of the plaque pH below 5 following positive control treatment (with 10% sucrose solution) demonstrated the proper functioning of the plaque-covered electrodes. The obtained pH curve with the plaque-covered electrode demonstrated that the tested product also lacked an erosive potential.

[0119] These results demonstrate that tested chewing gum lacks of cariogenic and erosive potential and hence is “toothfriendldy”. Thus, porous starch can be used as a bulking agent in chewing gums to replace polyols such as sorbitol used as “toothfriendly” bulking agent.