Enzyme inhibition, Maillard

D. Schumacher and L. W. Kroh, Studies on the degradation of Maillard reaction products by amylolytic enzymes. Part 1. Reversible inhibition of a- and glucoa-mylase as well as a-glucosidase by oligosaccharide-Amadori-compounds, Z Lebensm.-Unters. -Forsch., 199 (1994) 270-274. 

Many biochemical reactions can be induced by temperature increase in foods Maillard reactions, vitamin degradation, fat oxidation, denaturation of thermally unstable proteins (resulting in variation of solubility or of the germinating power of grains, for example), enzyme reactions (which can either be promoted or inhibited), and so on. Some of these biochemical reactions generate components suitable, for example, for their sensory properties (flavor development) others may be more or less undesirable for nutritional or potential toxicity reasons (vitamin losses, changes in color, taste or aroma, formation of toxic compounds). All the reactions are linked to the simultaneous evolution of product composition, temperature and water content (or chemical potential, or water activity), these factors varying diflferently from one point to another, from the center to the surface of the products. 

SO2 is not only antimicrobially active, but inhibits discoloration by blocking compounds with a reactive carbonyl group (Maillard reaction nonenzymatic browning) or by inhibiting oxidation of phenols by phenol oxidase enzymes (enzymatic browning). 

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