The glycation of silk sericin to enhance its application to functional foods

Abstract

Silk sericin (SS) with various biological activities has limited solubility in water and unpleasant pupal odor, which hinder its wide application in functional foods. Here, a high-yield Maillard reaction (MR) product, glycated sericin, was obtained at a concentration of 60–10 mg/mL with 18–30 mg/mL reducing sugar in a pH 10.0 aqueous solution at 90 °C for 6 h. Xylose had the highest reaction efficiency and the most obvious browning among the seven reducing sugars, followed by arabinose sugar and glucose. No matter what kind of sericin and what kind of reducing sugar, the solubility of the glycated sericin in water increased 2–3 times, and the antioxidant capacity increased 3.5–5.5 times. In particular, glycation of the sericin eliminated the pupal odor of SS and replaced it with a slightly sweet mellow fragrance. Therefore, sericin glycation opens up broad application as a health food, functional food, or food additive.