|
Rice is used in our product to preserve enzyme activity. Protection is needed because the enzymes are highly reactive and capable of denaturing each other while the product is still a juice and are subject to damage by oxidation and other similar reactions after drying. Rice protects the product's activity both during processing, when it is a liquid, and after it is dried.
During processing, when the product is still a liquid, starches in the rice act to keep proteins in the juice from reacting with and denaturing each other. This is primarily a physical rather than a chemical protection. On a microscopic scale, the
starches form a gel that keeps other molecules in the juice apart from each other. It's similar to a person trying to move around in a crowded room - the gel formed by the
starches keeps enzymes apart by forming a barrier around them and other molecules in the juice so that they can't react with each other as easily as they would if the starch wasn't used.
Starches only slow down these reactions however, so fast processing and freezing of the juice are still the most critical steps needed to assure that the product still has all the activity of a fresh juice.
After drying, the juice powder is in a physical form that is easily attacked by oxygen because of the powder's large surface area. Any enzymes located on the surface of the crystals that form the powder are subject to attack by oxygen. Oxidation results in the same kind of denaturing of the enzyme's activity as is seen in the juice when enzymes are allowed to react. All of these reactions damage the enzymes and reduce their ability to catalyze other reactions that are important to human health.
Starches stop oxidation from occurring in the dried powder because, during freeze-drying, they form a hard matrix around the enzymes and other molecules in the juice. This tough outer shell around the enzymes keeps oxygen from getting at and reacting with the enzymes. When the powder is reconstituted in water, the starch is dissolved and the enzymes are freed from their protective matrix and, once again, become highly reactive. Because of the protective effects of the starch, these enzymes are as active after mixing with water as they were in the fresh juice.
It is possible to make a wheat grass juice product without using starches to help preserve activity. In this kind of product however, the denaturing of the enzymes by oxygen or by reactions with other juice constituents doesn't stop and the activity of the product can't be guaranteed. If you tried such a product right after drying, its activity might be close to normal. But it won't be the same a week later. Because of the time involved in packaging and distributing the product to the stores where it will finally be sold, the use of a starch is absolutely critical for assuring that the customer is really getting a dried juice product that is as close in activity to a fresh juice as possible.
Order one 2.5
oz bottle of Dyna-Green Freeze-Dried Wheat Grass
for Only $21.95 (30 servings)
Top of Page |
