JPH09206026A - Food and drink that promotes stress prevention and adaptation formation - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [PROBLEMS] To provide foods and drinks that are safe against stress without suppressing the central nervous system and that promote stress prevention and adaptation formation. SOLUTION: By obtaining an extract derived from cocoa beans, it was found that this extract has an excellent effect in preventing a reduction in emotional behavior reaction due to stress and promoting adaptation formation. By adding this extract, foods and drinks that are safe without suppressing the central nervous system, safe, convenient, and effective in preventing stress and promoting adaptation formation were obtained at low cost.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a food or drink containing an extract derived from cocoa beans. More specifically, the present invention relates to foods and drinks that prevent emotional and behavioral reactions from decreasing due to mental and physical stress. Furthermore, it relates to a food or drink that promotes adaptation formation to stress.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Cacao (Theobroma cacao) is an evergreen small tree, originally from the humid area of tropical America, and has a length of 15
Fruits of ~ 30 cm and diameter of 10 cm are formed. It is said that it has been cultivated and acclimated for over 2000 years, and the cocoa beans in the fruits are used as a raw material for food and drink such as chocolate and cocoa. As physiological effects of cocoa beans, cardiotonic action, diuretic action, etc. have been reported, but no action on stress has been reported.

There are various types of stress, such as daily changes in temperature, human relationships, and the lives of modern society that have become complicated. Depending on how they deal with stress, physical and mental health is affected. And in today's information-rich society, various diseases caused by physical or mental stress are rapidly increasing (Siltamen, P.,
Clin. Res., 16 , 142-155, 1984). On the other hand, in the fields of neuroscience and neuropharmacology, research on acute or repetitive stress has been vigorously carried out (Blis.
S., ELand Ailion, J., LifeSci., 10 , 1161-1169,1971).

It is known that stress response is gradually reduced by repeatedly applying the same stress several times (Kennett, GA, Dickinson, SLand Curzon,
G., BrainRes., 330 , 253-263, 1985). Such a decrease in reactivity is a phenomenon called stress acclimatization or adaptation formation, and is considered to be one of the important biological defense mechanisms (Kennett, GA, Dickinson, SLand Curzon, G., Eur.JP.
harmacol., 119 , 143-152, 1985).

Conventionally, benzodiazepine-type anxiolytic drugs have been mainly used for the purpose of stress reduction and disease prevention. By suppressing the so-called central nervous system, stimulation from the outside world is temporarily suppressed. It shuts off and waits for the person to recover. Although this is highly safe, it may have some habits and side effects when used continuously.

[0006]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In response to such stress, when an anxiolytic drug is used to suppress the advanced central nervous system, proper judgment and adaptation cannot be performed, and the adaptation as an original defense mechanism is impaired. Resulting in. It is desired to develop foods and drinks that are safe without suppressing the central nervous system and that prevent and recover stress and promote adaptation formation.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The inventors of the present invention have conducted extensive studies to solve the above problems, and as a result, an extract derived from cocoa beans does not inhibit the central nervous system and is excellent in preventing stress. For the first time, they have found that they have an effect of promoting adaptation formation, and have completed the present invention based on this finding.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A method for producing an extract derived from cocoa beans according to the present invention is to extract from cocoa beans with ethanol. As the raw cocoa beans, various forms such as cocoa shell, cocoa nibs, cocoa mass and defatted cocoa mass are used, and defatted cocoa mass is preferable from the viewpoint that the extract can be made into powder.
Defatted cocoa mass is obtained by removing oil from cocoa beans obtained by removing a portion of the cocoa shell called cocoa shell from cocoa beans. The oil content may be removed by a known method.

The extraction method is as follows: 300 to 800 parts by weight of ethanol solution, preferably 400 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of cocoa beans.
~ 700 parts by weight is added, and the mixture is stirred at room temperature for several hours to 48 hours, preferably about 24 hours. As an ethanol solution, water to ethanol is 60:40 to 0: 100, preferably 30:70 to 0:
A solution ratio of 100 can be used. Ethanol contained in the extract obtained by filtration is removed under reduced pressure to obtain an extract. Further, the extract can be made into powder by freeze-drying or vacuum drying. The extract thus obtained may be either a concentrated liquid or a powder depending on the application of the food. Of course, the extract may be further purified by chromatography or the like depending on the use of the food.

When a living body receives stress, various reactions are expressed. Broadly speaking, behavioral reactions (changes in food intake, water intake, and voluntary motor activity after stress release, etc.), emotional reactions (exploratory behavior, struggling behavior, crying, excretion, etc.), physical reaction (weight) And changes in body temperature and changes in digestive system, circulatory system, endocrine system, etc.).
The determination of adaptation formation, which is considered to be one of the important biological defense mechanisms against stress, is generally evaluated by using these stress responses induced by the load of mental or physical stress as an index ( Hiroshi Takeda, et al .: Stress Science 7 (1), 90-96, 1992).

The present inventors examined the preventive effect against this stress and the effect of promoting adaptation formation on the extract derived from cocoa beans. As a result, it was found that the cacao bean-derived extract has an excellent effect in preventing the reaction deterioration of emotional behavior due to stress and promoting adaptation formation to stress. Details are as shown in the examples.

The food and drink of the present invention is a food and drink containing an extract derived from cocoa beans, and since the extract is non-toxic to the human body, its addition ratio is not particularly limited, but each food and drink is not limited. Considering the characteristics, taste, economy, etc. of the product, the amount of addition is 0.1 to 20%, preferably 0.2 to 10%. The food and drink of the present invention include, of course, foods and drinks using cacao beans as a main raw material such as chocolate and cocoa, as long as the extract according to the present invention can be added, cookies, candy, confectionery and jelly. It can be used for any food or drink such as confectionery such as, bread, noodles and other starch-based foods, and various beverages. Furthermore, auxiliary ingredients commonly used in the food field, such as sugars (sucrose, liquid sugar, honey, oligosaccharides, etc.), vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin C, etc.), various acidulants (citric acid, malic acid, etc.),
It can be used in various foods and drinks such as tablets, powders, granules and liquids as well as various flavors. Characteristics of each food and drink,
Depending on the purpose, it may be appropriately mixed at the stage of an appropriate manufacturing process.

【Example】

The present invention will be further described with reference to examples, but the scope of the present invention is not limited to these.

Example 1 To 100 parts by weight of defatted cocoa mass powder was added 500 parts by weight of 80% ethanol, and the mixture was stirred and extracted at room temperature for one day and then 10,000 R.
PM was centrifuged for 10 minutes, and the supernatant was concentrated under reduced pressure with a rotary evaporator and freeze-dried to obtain a cocoa extract.

Example 2 Using this extract, the preventive effect on stress was examined. Eight-week-old Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (CLEA Japan, Inc.) were used (7 to 8 animals per group) and used for the test after one week of preliminary breeding (feed and water ad libitum). Room temperature is 23
Animal breeding chamber (EBAC-S, ± 1 ℃, humidity 55 ± 5%)
Breeded by CLEA Japan. In the test, the cocoa extract obtained in Example 1 was added to powder feed (AIN76 modified refined feed) at 0.5%.
Was added (no addition in the control group), stress load 10
It was given ad libitum from the day before. For restraint stress, an operation of forcibly restraining the wire mesh cage (4.5 × 4.5 × 16 cm) was applied for 4 hours. Emotional behavior (changes caused by emotional reaction) was evaluated for 10 minutes using a device capable of simultaneously performing an open field and hall board test (automatic hall board tester, ST-1, Muromachi Kikai Co., Ltd.). In the open field test, the action distance and the number of standing ups are used as an index, and in the hole board test, the number of head dips (looking through a hole) is used as an index.
Takeda et al.'S method (Hiroshi Takeda and others: Stress Science 7 (1),
90-96, 1992). The test results are shown as mean ± standard error, and Student's t-test was used for the significance test.

As shown in FIG. 1, the results show that the control group was 3094 ± 474 cm in the control group before the stress was applied.
However, the amount of activity decreased to 2153 ± 507 cm after stress. In contrast, the cacao extract group was 3313 ± 296
Was 3296 ± 301 cm, which showed no significant change (there was a significant difference at a risk rate of 5% compared to the control group).

As shown in FIG. 2, the number of head dips considered to be one of emotional behaviors was 15.9 in the control group.
± 6.5 decreased to 10.8 ± 5.4 times, whereas 16.0 ± 6.9 did not change to 17.6 ± 3.8 times in the cocoa extract group (there was a significant difference at the risk rate of 5% compared to the control group). .

As for the number of rises, in the control group, 20.4 ± 3.4 was 12.8 ± 4.3 as shown in FIG.
19.9 ± 5.3 in the cocoa extract group
However, there was no significant change at 19.9 ± 4.8 times (there was a significant difference at a risk rate of 5% compared to the control group).

Example 3 Using this extract, the promoting action of adaptation formation on stress was examined. 8-week-old SD rat (CLEA Japan)
(1 group 6 to 8 animals) was used for the experiment after preliminarily breeding for 1 week (feed and free water intake). Room temperature is 23 ± 1
The animals were kept in an animal breeding chamber (EBAC-S, CLEA Japan, Inc.) at a temperature of 55 ° C and a humidity of 55 ± 5%. Repeated stress load is 4 per day
The operation of forcibly restraining in a wire mesh cage (4.5 × 4.5 × 16 cm) for 7 hours was repeated for a period of time. After the repeated restraint stress load for 3 days, the cocoa extract obtained in Example 1 was orally administered at 100 mg / kg from the 4th day after the daily stress load (in the control group, the same volume of distilled water was administered). Evaluation of emotional behavior was performed in the same manner as in Example 2.

As shown in FIG. 4, the body weight was −0.6 ± 0.9 g in the control group after repeated restraint stress for 4 hours a day for 3 days, but was restrained for another 4 days. The load decreased to -6.3 ± 4.8 g, and a stress reaction was observed. On the other hand, in the cacao extract group, -0.4 ±
It was considered that 2.2 g suppressed the weight loss to 0.8 ± 3.0 g and promoted adaptation formation (there was a significant difference at a risk rate of 5% compared to the control group).

Regarding the action distance, in the control group, it was 1640 ± 635 cm on the third day as shown in FIG.
On day one, the amount of activity decreased further to 1455 ± 372 cm. On the other hand, in the cocoa extract group, 1690 ± 316 cm was 2241 ± 369c.
It was considered that the formation of adaptation was promoted (the risk rate was 5% compared with the control group, and there was a significant difference).

With respect to the number of head dips, as shown in FIG. 6, 14.1 ± 8.1 was further reduced to 9.1 ± 4.6 in the control group, whereas it was 14.1 ± 5 in the cocoa extract group.
1 increased to 16.8 ± 5.6 times (there was a significant difference at a risk rate of 5% compared to the control group).

As shown in FIG. 7, the number of rises was not significantly changed from 14.3 ± 9.0 in the control group to 10.3 ± 5.2, whereas in the cocoa extract group, 14.1 ± 7.7 was 20.1. The number increased to ± 9.6 times (there was a significant difference at a risk rate of 5% compared to the control group).

Production Example 1 Using the cocoa extract obtained in Example 1, a cocoa beverage having the following composition was prepared according to a conventional method. Cocoa extract 0.3 parts Cocoa extract 0.35 parts Cocoa powder 0.5 parts Granulated sugar 6 parts Milk 6 parts Almond extract 0.12 parts Rum wine 0.1 parts Stabilizer 0.03 parts Emulsifier 0.1 parts Water 86.5 parts

Production Example 2 Using the cocoa extract obtained in Example 1, a jelly beverage was prepared in the following manner according to a conventional method. Cocoa extract 0.5 parts Powdered sugar 4 parts Granulated sugar 10 parts Flavor 0.15 parts Syrup 20 parts Agar 0.35 parts Water 65 parts

Production Example 3 Using the cocoa extract obtained in Example 1, tablet confectionery was made in the following formulation according to a conventional method. Cocoa extract 1 part Granulated sugar 85 parts Concentrated fruit juice 5 parts Citric acid 6 parts Flavor 2 parts Gelatin 1 part

[0027]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION By incorporating the cocoa bean-derived extract of the present invention into foods and drinks, it is possible to prevent a decrease in emotional behavior reaction due to stress. In addition, adaptation formation, which is an important defense mechanism of the body against stress, can be promoted, and an effect of positively recognizing and coping with stress from the outside world can be expected. Since it has been used as a foodstuff for a long time, it is highly safe even if it is continuously used on a daily basis, and can be provided simply and at low cost, which is extremely significant.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a graph showing action distances before and after a stress load.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing the number of head dips before and after stress application.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the number of rises before and after stress loading.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing increase / decrease in body weight from a stressed state.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing changes in action distance from a stress state.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing changes in the number of head dips from a stressed state.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing changes in the number of rises from a stress state.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Toshio Takizawa 5-3-1 Chiyoda, Sakado City, Saitama Prefecture Meiji Seika Co., Ltd., Institute for Biological Sciences (72) Inventor Takashi Adachi 5-3-1 Chiyoda, Sakado City, Saitama Prefecture Meiji Confectionery Co., Ltd. Biological Science Research Institute

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A food or drink containing an extract derived from cocoa beans. 2. The food or drink according to claim 1, wherein the extract is extracted from cocoa beans using ethanol. 3. The food or drink according to claim 1, which contains the extract derived from cocoa beans and exhibits an effect of preventing a reduction in emotional behavior reaction due to stress. 4. The food or drink according to claim 1, which has the effect of promoting adaptation formation to stress by containing an extract derived from cocoa beans.