Maillard Reaction Products in Powder Based Food for Infants and Toddlers

Aim: To investigate the formation of Maillard reaction products (MRPs) during 28 days storage of the two most consumed brands (B1, B2) of gruel products on the Swedish market.

Methodology: The MRPs; furfural, 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF), N-(1-Carboxyethyl)-L-Lysine (CEL), N-(1-Carboxymethyl)-L-Lysine (CML), fluorescent advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and melanoidins (brown colour) were selected for analysis. High performance liquid chromatography coupled to UV spectrophotometry, fluorescence spectrophotometry or tandem mass spectrometry was used for analysis.

Results: In general, MRPs were higher in B2 than in B1 at the time of opening the package. The initial content of MRPs in B1 and B2 respectively was as follows: 4.39 and 13.74 µg/g of furfural; 1.11 and 1.47 µg/g of HMF; 73.64 and 134.3 µg/g of total CML; 19.79 and 30.42 µg/g of total CEL; 51.11 and 73.01 AU/g of fluorescent AGEs; 0.52 and 1.45 AU/g of MRPs that absorb light at 420 nm and 1.40 and 3.22 AU/g of MRPs that absorb light at 360 nm. During storage for 28 days, furfural, HMF, MRPs that absorb light at 360 nm and at 420 nm as well as fluorescent MRPs increased significantly by respectively 7, 30, 60, 83 and 21% in B2. In B1, only the fluorescent MRPs (21%) increased during storage.

Conclusion: A higher initial content and more pronounced increase of MRPs during 28 days storage time was observed in B2. Consequently, children consuming gruel from B2 are exposed to 1.3-3.1 times more MRPs compared to B1. Considering that a child often sticks to one gruel brand throughout the first years of life and that some MRPs are inflammatory drivers, more studies are required to understand the role of food-process induced chemicals at an early age for future health of the children.