Selective elimination of bitter peptides by adsorption to heat-treated porous silica gel

Abstract

Protein hydrolysates are used for various purposes such as hypoallergenic food, clinical applications, and functional food. However, hydrolysed peptides usually present intense bitter tastes. We previously created a new type of silica gel without chemical modification and found that this material highly adsorbed hydrophobic or positively charged peptides under neutral conditions. Bitter peptides possess bulky basic groups or hydrophobic groups, and we examined the applicability of these as a new bitterness removal carrier. As a result, we confirmed that bitter peptides were more selectively adsorbed compared to other commercial materials and the bitter taste was significantly reduced. These results indicate the utility of our material as a pretreatment carrier. Moreover, silica gel is approved as a food additive and we created this material by subjecting to heat treatment only; thus, it has high food safety and is applicable as a bitterness-masking material.