Speaking of trehalose, a natural sugar, I believe many people are not unfamiliar with it, because most of the foods we eat in our daily lives contain trehalose, such as mushrooms, bread, and even beer and prawns. It is said that trehalose has a very good magical effect on organisms and can protect species living in harsh environments from being harmed. So what are the effects and functions of trehalose?
In fact, Food Additive Trehalose has many effects and functions, and its application is also very wide. For example, some baked products, candy foods, etc. contain this kind of natural sugar. Trehalose is a safe and reliable natural Sweetener Powder. It was first extracted from ergot fungus in rye by Wiggers in 1832.
Subsequent studies have found that trehalose is widely present in many edible animals, plants and microorganisms in nature, such as mushrooms, seaweed, beans, shrimp, bread, beer and yeast fermented foods that people eat in daily life. There are high levels of trehalose.
Description: Trehalose is a non-reducing sugar composed of two glucose molecules with a 1,1-glycosidic bond. It has three isomers, namely trehalose, isotrehalose and neotrehalose, and has a non-specific protective effect on a variety of biologically active substances. Trehalose is known as the "sugar of life" in the scientific community.
The Effect of Trehalose
Trehalose has a magical protective effect on organisms because it can form a unique protective film on the cell surface under harsh environmental conditions such as high temperature, high cold, high osmotic pressure and dehydration, effectively protecting protein molecules from inactivation, thereby maintaining the life process and biological characteristics of living organisms.
Many species that show extraordinary resistance to harsh external environments are directly related to the presence of a large amount of trehalose in their bodies. This unique functional characteristic makes trehalose not only an excellent active protective agent for protein drugs, enzymes, vaccines and other biological products, but also an important ingredient for maintaining cell activity and moisturizing cosmetics. It can also be used as a unique food ingredient to prevent food deterioration, maintain food freshness and flavor, and improve food quality, greatly expanding the function of trehalose as a natural edible sweet sugar.
Production process: Trehalose is made using the most advanced bioengineering technology and production process of the time, using complete sets of equipment built according to international pharmaceutical standards, and using local natural cassava starch that does not contain genetically modified ingredients as raw materials.
Application of Trehalose
1. Food industry
Application of trehalose in the Food Additives: Like other sugars, trehalose can be widely used in the food industry, including beverages, chocolate and candy, baked products and quick-frozen foods.
Baked products: In baked products, trehalose has a variety of potential uses: it can adjust the sweetness and aroma of frosting, bread cream and fruit fillings on cakes, biscuits and pastries, without damaging the storage life, so that people can taste the original flavor of the product.
Candy: Trehalose can be mixed with most other sweeteners and used in candy, fruit juice drinks and herbal products to adjust the sweetness of the product, so as to truly maintain the original flavor of the product. In addition, due to the stability of trehalose, hydrolysis will not occur, and the product color will not change and maintain its original gloss.
Quick-frozen products: Trehalose can replace sucrose and reduce the coagulation point of ice cream and other frozen products. It can be used to produce new frosting in frozen products and frozen candies, and produce a unique and delicious flavor.
2. Pharmaceutical industry
Application of trehalose in the pharmaceutical industry:
(1) Trehalose has been successfully used in medicine to replace plasma protein as a stabilizer for biologically active substances such as blood products, vaccines, lymphocytes, and cell tissues.
(2) The Quadrant Research Foundation in Cambridge, UK, mixed polio vaccine with trehalose and freeze-dried it. It was found that its stability at 45°C in a dry state was equivalent to that at 4°C in a liquid state.
(3) John Crow and his colleagues at the University of California, USA, mixed trehalose with cells that make platelets. After drying and dehydrating the cells, they were freeze-dried and stored for a long time at room temperature. (4) Trehalose can be used to preserve biological reagents for research, such as various tool enzymes, cell membranes, organelles, antibodies, antigens, and viruses, making life science research more convenient, fast, and effective.
(5) Bifidobacteria are bacteria in the intestines that are used to improve the balance of human microecology. Bifidobacterium live bacterial preparations are a powerful weapon for disease prevention and treatment.
3. Cosmetics
The application of trehalose in cosmetics is based on its excellent properties of maintaining cell vitality and biomacromolecule activity. Skin cells, especially epidermal cells, are very likely to lose moisture and become keratinized, or even die and fall off in environments such as high temperature, high cold, dryness, and strong ultraviolet radiation, causing skin damage.
In this case, trehalose can form a special protective film on the surface of the cells. The mucus precipitated from the film not only moisturizes the skin cells, but also has the function of radiating external heat. Thus protecting the skin from damage.
Trehalose has great effects and functions in food, the pharmaceutical industry, and even beauty and skin care products. Therefore, trehalose is a very practical natural sugar.
