METHODS FOR DETERMINATION REACTIVE LYSINE IN HEAT-TREATED FOODS AND FEEDS

Abstract

Lysine is an essential amino acid, which is limited in foods of plant origin, especially in cereals. The heat-treatment of products containing proteins and reducing sugars results in formation of Maillard reactions during which the cross-linkages among epsilon amino groups (ε-NH2) and reducing sugars are created. Thus the protein-carbohydrate complex is formed. This complex contains an unreactive (unavailable) lysine, which is bound to reducing sugars and is not available in body. Hereby, the nutritive value of feeds and foods decreases. When a standard analytical method for analyses of amino acids is used, in products containing protein-carbohydrate complexes, it is not possible to analyze the content of reactive (available) and unreactive (unavailable) lysine, but only the content of total lysine. Therefore, when the standard amino acid analysis is used, the content of lysine in heat-treated feeds and foods is overestimated. In order to avoid this, some methods for determination of reactive lysine were developed. Among the best known, the homoarginine and furosine methods are included. Using these methods, in evaluation of nutritive value of feeds and foods, is of great importance because they allow to determine the extent of proteins, which were damaged during the heat treatment and thus we obtain information on objective nutritional protein quality of the product.