Subject Maillard reactions

This book is a result of the first symposium on the Maillard reaction held in this country (the second in the world2). Panel discussions with audience participation were held on the subjects of food and nutritional benefits of Maillard reaction products and the toxicology of Maillard reaction products but are not reported here. Interaction between participants during this meeting helped cement relations for continued help and perhaps will promote some new areas for cooperative research between American and foreign scientists. This symposium was also an important element in the training of graduate students it provided them with increased awareness of the breadth of the scientific field. We hope that it is true of each of you ... 

Although this book cannot give a complete account of the meeting, we hope that it will serve as a starting point to help guide the research of others. We are pleased that the Maillard reaction and its products will now be the subject of on-going international meetings. 

Examination of the subject indexes of Chemical Abstracts (CA) restricted to the terms browning and Maillard reaction gave the results shown in Table I. 

The studies reviewed demonstrate that browning products produced on retorting of meat inhibit development of WOF, so that canned meat products are not subject to this flavor defect. The flavor of canned meat is less desirable, however, than that of freshly cooked meat. Nevertheless, the strong inhibitory action of the Maillard reaction products against WOF suggests that they could be useful in preventing development of WOF, so further research in this area could be fruitful. 

The first report on antioxidative effect of MRP was made by Franzke and Iwainsky (3). Shortly afterward Griffith and Johnson (4) reported that the addition of glucose to cookie dough resulted in a better stability against oxidative rancidity during storage of the cookies. Research on antioxidative MRP was then mainly performed by groups in Japan. A symposium on Maillard Reactions in Food held in Uddevalla, Sweden, 1979 included also the aspect of antioxidative properties. The contributions on this subject contained also brief reviews (5, 6, 7). Most of the work has been done on model systems. Some applications in food systems have, however, also been reported (8 - 11). 

Little is known on the catalysis of the Maillard reaction and especially the integrated polyphenol-Maillard reaction by natural soils and sediments. Further work is warranted on this subject matter to advance our understanding of the role of abiotic catalysis in the formation of humic substances and related C turnover and N transformations in the environment. 

As a result of the very wide chemical interest which the Maillard reaction has attracted since the early years of this century, and of its diverse commercial and biological implications, a vast amount of work thereon has been published. In this article, the chemical aspects of the reaction between simple amino acids and mono- and di-saccharides will be surveyed the reaction with peptides and proteins will be discussed only when it contributes to our understanding of the mode of interaction between simple amino acids and sugars. The significance of the reaction in the preservation of various foodstuffs has now been reviewed many times2 9 and continues to be the subject of much investigation.10 16 The reaction is also... 

The early scientific discoveries relating to heat induced aroma development can be traced to the work of Louis—Camille Maillard at the University of Nancy during the period of 1912 to 1936 (2). He published at least 8 papers on the subject of the reaction of sugars with amino acids. The Maillard Reaction, or so-called, non enzymatic browning reaction chemistry, has become the focus on a great amount of scientific work (3). 

N, S and 0 heterocyclic compounds, along with noncyclic sulfur compounds and hydrocarbons, are predominant in "meaty" flavor volatiles. The mechanisms of heterocyclic formation by Maillard and pyrolysis reactions have been reviewed by Vemin and Parkanyi (57) and the Maillard reaction itself is a recurring subject of review (58). Since other speakers contributing to this volume will discuss these aspects of meat flavor, they will not be repeated in this presentation. 

Free radicals in the Maillard reaction are the subject of a recent in-depth review by Rizzi.640... 

The level of pentosidine of nondiabetic pulmonary cancer patients in treatment with the antineoplastic drug, cisplatin, has been found to be higher than in healthy subjects,443 when the protein from urine, plasma, and erythrocyte membranes was examined by HPLC. Urine pyrraline was unaffected. This work implies a whole field of study of the interactions of medication with the Maillard reaction. 

All excipient chemical reactions should be incorporated into the experimental design. For example, drugs that contain primary and secondary amines functionality undergo Maillard reactions with lactose and other reducing carbohydrates such as glucose and maltose under pharmaceutically reasonable conditions.This reaction should be considered during formulation development. Alternative excipients such as mannitol, sucrose, and trahalose, which are not subject to the Maillard reaction, should be used in place of lactose in such cases. 

Reactions between reducing sugars and amino acids (G18, H12, H13, R6) precede the browning (Maillard) reaction that may occur in food products, especially milks. Such adducts, subjected to acid pyrolysis are hydrolyzed to... 

The role of the Maillard reaction in foods and medicine has been the subject of the Sixth International Symposium on the Maillard Reaction (Mlotkiewicz, 1998). Other recent reviews on this reaction are by Tressl and Rewicki (1999), Ho and Chen (1999) and Reineccius (1999). 

Soy protein products undergo the typical non-enzymatic browning reaction (Maillard reaction) in the presence of reducing sugars. The course of this reaction is similar to that of other proteins which have been studied in some detail. This subject has been reviewed recently by Feeney, Blankenhorn, and Dixon (49) as a special aspect of the carbonyl-amine reactions of proteins. 

Hyperglycemia, protein glycation, and the Maillard reaction, in themselves, do not appear to explain adequately the pathogenesis of diabetic complications or the variability in their expression. Other theories, such as the aldose reductase hypothesis of polyol accumulation are also subject to similar inadequacies (Hunt and Wolff, 1991a Wolff et al., 1991). 

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