食品伙伴網(wǎng)報道，據(jù)美國營養(yǎng)成分網(wǎng)消息，目前一項新的研究已對酸奶中具有抗氧化能力的蛋白成分進行鑒定和測序。而這種蛋白具有在功能性食品中作為穩(wěn)定劑的應(yīng)用前景。食品伙伴網(wǎng)今年8月5日，對“酸奶蛋白可防止ω- 3氧化”的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)進行了報道，而我們要現(xiàn)在介紹的這篇研究報告為上述報道的后續(xù)研究。

    這篇研究論文仍然是發(fā)表在《食品化學》期刊上。這項來自丹麥哥本哈根大學的研究人員所進行的研究針對酸奶中那些具有抗氧化活性的蛋白進行了進一步的研究。氨基酸的含量、排序、以及肽的表征賦予這些蛋白抗氧化的活性，而這些信息的獲得則可以用來合成及純化具有抗氧化活性的蛋白，并把這些蛋白添加到食物中，使食物具有類似天然的抗氧化活性。

    這項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，所有以前被發(fā)現(xiàn)具有抗氧化活性的肽段中都有脯氨酸殘基，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)支持以前的研究表明抗氧化活性可能與含有脯氨酸有關(guān)。大量的抗氧化肽也被發(fā)現(xiàn)在N -端含有疏水氨基酸亮氨酸或纈氨酸殘基，與以往的研究結(jié)果一致，這與抗氧化劑有很大的關(guān)系。此外，酸奶中的游離氨基酸（組氨酸，酪氨酸，蛋氨酸和半胱氨酸），已被報道具有很強的抗氧化性能。

原文報道：

Yogurt proteins could stabilize omega-3 enrichment

By Nathan Gray, 29-Jul-2010

Related topics: Omega-3, Research, Antioxidants, carotenoids, Nutritional lipids and oils, Proteins, peptides, amino acids

New research suggests that naturally occurring antioxidant peptides could be used to prevent oxidation of omega-3 in functional foods.

Adding omega-3 rich fish oils into functional food products by substituting it for some of the original fat in foods could be a way to increase the amount of long chain omega-3 in our diet. However the problems involved with incorporating fish-oils in food products are well established. The main problem with introducing fish oils such as omega-3 to into food products is that it brings oxidative instability and can lead to potential ‘off-flavor’ formation.

Research that assessed the feasibility of such enrichment in dairy products found that yogurt with added omega-3 fatty acids are less susceptible to oxidation then milk containing the same amount of omega-3.

The new study, reported in the journal Food Chemistry, aimed to investigate the reason for such big differences in oxidative stability, with differences suggested to be due to the different protein composition of milk and yogurt.

The research measured the antioxidant properties of protein fragments formed when milk is fermented into yogurt. Samples of yogurt proteins of various sizes (3kDa, 10kDa, and 30 kDa), were tested for antioxidant activity by investigating DPPH radical-scavenging activity, Fe2+ iron-chelating activity, and reducing power.

The study observed that the smaller fraction peptides (<10kDa) were more effective antioxidants than larger fractions, especially in terms of Fe2+-chelanting activity and reducing power – of which Fe has previously been suggested to be important catalyst in fish-oil oxidation.

The smaller proteins with high antioxidant properties were then tested in omega-3 enriched milk which usually has a low oxidative stability, and were found to offer protection against oxidation of fish-oil enrichments.

The study’s findings suggest that the higher oxidative stability of yogurt might be due to antioxidant peptides released during the fermentation of milk by lactic acid bacteria, and that these peptides could be used to offer oxidative stability to fish-oil enriched food products.

Further work is now needed to identify exactly which peptides have the observed benefits on oxidative stability. The researchers wrote: “Since the antioxidant activity of the peptides depends on amino acid compositions, sequence and configuration of peptides, we cannot explain the exact mechanism for the observed findings”

Further purification and characterization of these [protein] fractions may offer an explanation for the discrepancies in the active peptides”.

With indications that current diets are highly deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, the greater oxidative stability provided by adding natural antioxidant peptides to an omega-3 enriched functional food could make omega-3 enrichment in foods more straightforward.

The study concludes: “These results also demonstrate the applicability of these naturally-occurring antioxidant peptides as an ingredient in foods enriched with fish oils to increase their oxidative stability.”

原文地址：http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/On-your-radar/Omega-3/Yogurt-proteins-could-stabilize-omega-3-enrichment