Trehalose content in foods

Abstract

The trehalose content in natural and fermented foods was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC). The samples were prepared by extraction from each food with 80% ethanol aqueous solution. For the GC analysis of sugar, an OV-17 packed column and a DB-5 capillary column were used. Trehalose was detected in relatively large quantity in mushrooms and baker's yeast. The trehalose content of dry solid materials ranged from 10% to 23% for mushrooms and from 7% to 11% for baker's yeast. Trehalose was also detected in alcoholic beverages (sake, beer and wine), mirin, bean products, shrimp, mozuku and hijiki. The trehalose content of each was 39∼240 ppm, 260 ppm, 5 ∼150 ppm, 5∼5000 ppm, 4 ppm and 2700 ppm, respectively. Wakame, konbu and honey have also been reported to contain trehalose, however, it was not detected in those materials in this study.