Abstract:
The effective ingredient in the inventive inhibitive agent against activity of a α-amylase is tea, e.g., black tea, or a tea polyphenol as a constituent of tea including epigallocatechin gallate, epicatechin gallate, epigallocatechin, epicatechin, (+)catechin and the isomer thereof, free theaflavin, theaflavin monogallates A and B and theaflavin digallate.

Description:
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/794,820, filed Nov. 18, 1991, (abandoned), which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/508,793filed Apr. 12, 1990 (abandoned). 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a novel inhibitive agent against the activity of α-amylase or, more particularly, to an inhibitive agent against the activity of α-amylase with high specificity in the reaction with α-amylase. 
     2. Background Information 
     A serious problem in these days called &#34;an age of gluttony&#34; is that many people suffer from corpulence and an adult disease or geriatric disease as a consequence of corpulence so that dieting or control of food intake is an important means for health control. In the midst of this, dietary fibers, which cannot be absorbed as food, are highlighted and utilized in various aspects. The effect of dietary fibers consists in the control of the absorption of harmful substance including carcinogenic ones and enhancement of the evacuating performance of the intestines rather than positive suppression of corpulence. 
     α-Amylase is a kind of digestive enzyme capable of hydrolyzing polysaccharides and is contained in the saliva and pancreatic juice of humans. Accordingly, inhibition of the activity of α-amylase would hopefully have an effect to prevent corpulence with adequate satisfaction of the appetite and exhibit a therapeutic effect for diabetes. Several inhibitive agents against the activity of α-amylase have been developed with such an object, although none of them is quite satisfactory in the activity with certain undesirable side effects in some of them. 
     Accordingly, it is advantageous to develop a novel inhibitive agent against the activity of α-amylase which can be administered to patients without undesirable side effects against human body. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a novel inhibitive agent against activity of α-amylase as mentioned above. The inventors have conducted extensive investigations of natural products to discover a substance capable of exhibiting the desired effect without the problems usually encountered in chemically synthesized compounds. 
     Thus, the inhibitive agent of the present invention against the activity of α-amylase comprises tea as the medicinally effective ingredient. 
     Further, the inhibitive agent of the invention comprises polyphenol compounds in tea as the effective ingredient. The polyphenol compound in tea as the effective ingredient in the inhibitive agent is selected from the group consisting of epigallocatechin gallate, epicatechin gallate, epigallocatechin, epicatechin, (+) catechin and the isomer thereof, free theaflavin, theaflavin monogallate A, theaflavin monogallate B and theaflavin digallate. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention provides a novel inhibitive agent against the activity of α-amylase, of which tea is the effective ingredient. 
     The tea polyphenol compounds as the principal effective ingredients in the inventive inhibitive agent against the activity of α-amylase include the tea catechin compounds represented by the general formula (I) given below and the theaflavin compounds represented by the general formula (II) given below: ##STR1## in which R 1  is a hydrogen atom or a hydroxy group and R 2  is a hydrogen atom or a 3,4,5-trihydroxy benzoyl group; and ##STR2## in which R 3  and R 4  are, each independently from the other, a hydrogen atom or a 3,4,5-trihydroxy benzoyl group. Particular examples of the tea catechin compounds represented by the general formula (I) include: (-)epicatechin, which is a compound of the formula (I) with R 1  =H and R 2  =H; (-)epigallocatechin, which is a compound of the formula (I) with R 1  =OH and R 2  =H; (-)epicatechin gallate, which is a compound of the formula (I) with R 1  =H and R 2  =3,4,5-trihydroxy benzoyl group; and (-)epigallocatechin gallate, which is a compound of the formula (I) with R 1  =OH and R 2  =3,4,5-trihydroxy benzoyl group. Particular examples of the theaflavin compounds include: free theaflavin, which is a compound of the formula (II) and R 3  =H and R 4  =H; theaflavin monogallate A, which is a compound of the formula (II) with R 3  =3,4,5-trihydroxy benzoyl group and R 4  =H; theaflavin monogallate B, which is a compound of the formula (II) with R 3  =H and R 4  =3,4,5-trihydroxy benzoyl group; and theaflavin digallate, which is a compound of the formula (II) with R 3  =3,4,5-trihydroxy benzoyl group and R 4  =3,4,5-trihydroxy benzoyl group. 
     The above described tea polyphenol compounds can be prepared from tea leaves as the starting material and a method for the preparation thereof and a typical example of the product composition are described, for example, in Japanese Patent Kokai 59-219384, 60-13780 and 61-130285 and elsewhere. 
     When the inventive inhibitive agent against the activity of α-amylase is to be processed into a medicament form or as an additive for food etc., the above described tea polyphenol as the effective ingredient as such is admixed with the base without or with dilution with water or alcohol. In this case, the concentration thereof in the digestive tract is preferably in the range from 0.1 μM to 5 mM or, more preferably, form 0.5 μM to 1 mM. 
     The above described inhibitive agent against activity of α-amylase comprises, as the effective ingredient, a natural product which is in a drinkable form taken in daily life in a considerably large volume so that it is absolutely free from the problem of undesirable side effects against the human body, not only when it is used as a medicine but also when it is used as an additive of food. Moreover, the effectiveness thereof is so high that the activity of α-amylase can be effectively inhibited by the addition thereof even in a very low concentration to provide a means for inhibiting the activity of α-amylase. 
     In the following, examples are given to illustrate the invention in more detail. 
    
    
     EXAMPLE 1 
     The enzyme used here was a product of α-amylase prepared from human saliva and supplied by Sigma Co. 
     A 150 μl of the enzyme solution (0.44 U/ml in a buffer solution) was added to 1230 μl of the sample solution and the mixture was incubated at 37° C. for 10 minutes. Thereafter, the sample solution was admixed with 120 μl of a solution of soluble starch as the substrate so as to have a final concentration of the substrate of 2.0 mg/ml to effect the reaction at 37° C. A 200 μl of the solution was taken in every 3 minutes from the solution under proceeding reaction and the reducing sugar produced therein was determined by the measurement of the absorbance at a wavelength of 540 nm according to the method of Bernfeld described in Meth. Enzymol., volume 1, page 49 (1959) by P. Bernfeld. The value of the absorbance was converted by calculation into the amount of maltose from which the reaction velocity was calculated according to the conventional procedure. The concentration of the solution for 50% inhibition of the activity of α-amylase was determined with each sample assuming that the activity of α-amylase was 100% when the reaction velocity was equal to that in the control in which the same volume of the buffer solution was added in place of the sample solution. The results are shown in Table 1 below. 
     
                       TABLE 1______________________________________                  Concentration forSample                 50% inhibition______________________________________Gallic acid            &gt;&gt;1      mMEpicatechin            &gt;&gt;1      mMIsomer of epicatechin  &gt;&gt;1      mMEpigallocatechin       &gt;&gt;1      mMIsomer of epigallocatechin                  &gt;&gt;1      mMEpicatechin gallate    130      μMIsomer of epicatechin gallate                  20       μMEpigallocatechin gallate                  260      μMIsomer of epigallocatechin gallate                  55       μMFree theaflavin        18       μMTheaflavin monogallate A                  1.0      μMTheaflavin monogallate B                  1.7      μMTheaflavin digallate   0.6      μM______________________________________ 
    
     A conclusion could be derived from the above given results that, among the catechin compounds shown in the table, epicatechin, epigallocatechin and isomers thereof have almost no power for the inhibition of the activity of α-amylase, but the other catechin compounds and theaflavin compounds have a strong power for the inhibition of the activity of α-amylase. 
     EXAMPLE 2 
     Each of 12-week old male rats of the Wistar strain, divided into a test group and a control group, was fed a high-carbohydrate diet either with or without, respectively, of 1% by weight of Polyphenon 100 which was a crude mixture of catechin compounds in a proportion shown in Table 2 below. 
     
                       TABLE 2______________________________________           Polyphenon 100                       RelativeCatechin compound Content, %                       content, %______________________________________Gallocatechin      1.44      1.6Epigallocatechin  17.57     19.3Catechin          --        --Epicatechin        5.81      6.4Epigallocatechin gallate             53.90     59.1Epicatechin gallate             12.51     13.7Total             91.23     100______________________________________ 
    
     The formulation of the high-carbohydrate diet given to the control animals was as shown below in Table 3. In the diet given to the test animals, the formulation was modified by decreasing the amount of the starch powder to 70.0% and addition of 1.0% of Polyphenon 100 instead. 
     
                       TABLE 3______________________________________       Content in high-                     Content in the       carbohydrate diet                     diet being addedConstituent (control), %  Polyphenon 100, %______________________________________Casein      22.0          22.0Salt mix    4.0           4.0Corn oil    2.0           2.0Vitamin complex       1.0           1.0Starch powder       71.0          70.0Polyphenone 100       --            1.0Total       100           100______________________________________ 
    
     After 7 days of feeding in this manner, the feces discharged from each animal was collected for one day and weighed to examine the change in the amount thereof caused by the addition of Polyphenon 100 to the diet. The results were that the amount in the control animals was 1.01 g per day per animal while the amount in the test animals was 1.78 g per day per animal to support the conclusion that the addition of the catechin compounds to the diet was effective to increase the amount of feces discharge. This result means that the catechin compounds act in a similar manner to dietary fibers in promoting the evacuating performance of the intestines by decreasing absorption of the carbohydrates as a consequence of the power to inhibit the activity of amylase. 
     EXAMPLE 3 
     When the inventive inhibitive agent against the activity of α-amylase is administrated to the human body, the dose to be taken orally is 0.1 to 10 g per day or, preferably, 2 to 5 g per day. The form of the medicament is not particularly limitative and it can be taken as such or in the form of a powder, tablet, capsule and the like, optionally, with admixture of an extending agent. When the inventive agent is used as an additive in food, it is added to various kinds of processed food and confectionery such as breads, noodles, cakes, biscuits, cookies and the like in an amount of 0.2 to 1.0% by weight. 
     EXAMPLE 4 
     An animal test was conducted by using ICR mice as the test animals to examine the acute toxicity of the inventive inhibitive agent against the activity of α-amylase. The values of LD 50  calculated according to the Van der Waerdrn method within the confidence limit were: 2412 mg/kg in the oral administration of the same crude mixture of catechin compounds as used in Example 2; 55.2 mg/kg in the intraperitoneal administration of a crude mixture of theaflavin compounds of the composition shown in Table 5 below; and 150 mg/kg in the intraperitoneal administration of epigallocatechin gallate. 
     
                       TABLE 5______________________________________                Content, %, in the                crude mixture ofCompound             theaflavin compounds______________________________________Free theaflavin      10.0Theaflavin monogallate A                22.3Theaflavin monogallate B                19.5Theaflavin digallate 32.5(+) Catechin         0.3(-) Epicatechin      1.8(-) Epigallocatechin gallate                4.7Isomer of (-) epigallocatechin gallate                1.0(-) Epicatechin gallate                3.9Others (isomers of theaflavin, etc.)                4.0______________________________________