The Fluorescence of Advanced Maillard Products Is a Good Indicator of Lysine Damage during the Maillard Reaction

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 2001-10, Vol.49 (10), p.4682-4687
• Main Authors: LECLERE, Juliette, BIRLOUEZ-ARAGON, Inès
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Fluorescamine - chemistry; Fluorescence; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Hot Temperature; Kinetics; Lactulose - chemistry; Lysine - analogs & derivatives; Lysine - analysis; Lysine - chemistry; Maillard Reaction; Methods of analysis, processing and quality control, regulation, standards; Milk - chemistry; Milk and cheese industries. Ice creams; Models, Chemical
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118
• DOI: 10.1021/jf001433o

The objective of this study was to determine whether in heat-treated milk-resembling models or milk there is a lag phase, before lactulosyllysine (LL) is converted into advanced Maillard products (AMP), and if there is a step during the heat treatment where LL is actively degraded into AMP. For that purpose, a low temperature (60−85 °C) and a long heat treatment (15−90 h) were chosen. We observe that the heat treatment first induces a parallel increase in furosine and AMP fluorescence, confirming that AMP are produced very early during the heat treatment. At this step, both indicators are correlated with each other and precisely reflect the lysine damage. After a time, however, furosine reaches a steady-state concentration, whereas AMP fluorescence still increases, remaining correlated with the lysine blockage. Nevertheless, heat treatment applied to milk does not reach this step so that AMP fluorescence appears as a rapid alternative to furosine quantification. Keywords: Maillard reaction; fluorescence; furosine; nutritional quality