Roasted tea functions created by maillard reaction

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K14430
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 38050:Food sciences-related
• Research Institution: Industrial Research Institute of Ishikawa
• Principal Investigator: Tetsuya Sasaki 石川県工業試験場, 化学食品部, 専門研究員 (00504846)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: ほうじ茶 / 香気成分 / メイラード反応

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Roasted tea, a representative tea of Japan, has characteristic aroma generated by roasting at high temperature. In this study, the functionality of Maillard reaction product in roasted tea was investigated. First, pyrazines generated by roasting were important compounds to increase preference score in sensory evaluation. Second, pyrazines showed GABAA receptor activity and anxiolytic activity in mice which were the indicators of relaxing effect. Third, high molecular weight fraction separated from roasted tea shows antioxidative effect that were increased with an increase in the roasting degree of tea.

Free Research Field

食品科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

お茶は健康に良い飲み物として鎌倉時代に日本に伝来されて以来、和食に不可欠な飲料として生活の中に定着している。その中で、ほうじ茶は日本固有のお茶として独自の地位を築いてきた。ほうじ茶の機能性を明らかにする本研究の成果は、ほうじ茶の疾病予防等への活用の可能性を提案するとともに、ほうじ茶に日本型食生活・食文化における新たな地位を与えるものであり、ひいては日本茶の魅力向上が期待できる。