This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202010571300.0, filed on Jun. 22, 2021, which is incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to medicine and food, and in particular, to a Pueraria flower extract rich in isoflavones and a method and application of the same.

BACKGROUND TECHNIQUE

Pueraria flower is the dried flower of plant Puerarialobata (Willd.) Ohwi. It is included in the Medicine Standards of the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China, Chinese Medicinal Materials. It is non-toxic, has a sweet and cool medicinal nature, and is used to relieve hangover. It can be used for symptoms, such as excessive drinking, headache, dizziness, polydipsia, vomiting and heartburn. In addition, modern studies have found that Pueraria flower also has the effects of lowering blood sugar, lowering blood fat, antioxidant, anti-allergic, improving memory, lowering body fat and losing weight. Pueraria flower contains flavonoids, saponins, and volatile oil compounds. The most studied active ingredients are isoflavones, such as iris, Pueraria lobata, and Nepal iris.

The extraction process of Pueraria flower mainly uses water extraction and organic solvent extraction to obtain extracts with or without refining, but the extracts obtained by these methods have low isoflavone content, or the cumbersome process has low yield. The extract is not soluble in water, and is difficult to meet the requirements of the beverage and food industry. CN 101239092 A discloses Pueraria flower isoflavone extract, its extraction method, pharmaceutical composition and its application in pharmacy. Although the solubility is improved, the method requires extraction with an organic solvent after alumina treatment. The operation steps are complicated, and the extraction rate is low and operation cost is high. CN 101129447 A also discloses a method and application for extracting total isoflavones from Pueraria flowers. The method includes adding 10-60% ethanol to dilute the ethanol extraction extract to prepare the high-content isoflavone extract by using a macroporous adsorption resin. This process requires high energy consumption and has high cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to overcome the deficiencies described in the background art, the purpose of the present invention is to solve the application problem of the solubility of Pueraria flower extract in food and the problem of quality improvement, and to provide a good water-soluble extract of Pueraria flower rich in isoflavones and an easy to operate, low-cost preparation method.

In one embodiment, a method of preparing a Pueraria flower extract rich in isoflavones includes the following steps:

(1) grinding dry Pueraria flowers to obtain a Pueraria flower powder;

(2) adding a first 20-50% ethanol solution to the Pueraria flower powder to form a mixture, stirring and heating the mixture at 20-80° C. for 1-4 hours, removing the first 20-50% ethanol solution from the mixture, adding a second 20-50% ethanol solution to the mixture, stirring and heating the mixture at 20-80° C. for 1-4 hours, removing the second 20-50% ethanol solution from the mixture, and combining the first 20-50% ethanol solution and the second 20-50% ethanol solution to obtain an extract solution;

(3) filtering the extract solution to remove solids;

(4) concentrating the extract solution under vacuum to obtain a crude extract, the crude extract containing 10-40% solid components;

(5) adding anhydrous ethanol solution to the crude extract to reach an ethanol concentration of the crude extract of 75-95%, storing the crude extract at 20-30° C. for 1-4 hours;

(6) centrifuging the crude extract at a speed of 2,000-5,000 r/min to obtain a supernatant; and

(7) concentrating the supernatant under vacuum, and spray drying to obtain the Pueraria flower extract without any purification steps.

In another embodiment, in step (2), a weight ratio of the Pueraria flower powder:the combination of the first 20-50% ethanol solution and the second 20-50% ethanol solution is 1:5-10.

In another embodiment, in step (2), the weight ratio of the Pueraria flower powder:the combination of the first 20-50% ethanol solution and the second 20-50% ethanol solution is 1:6.

In another embodiment, the step (2) includes: adding a first 30-40% ethanol solution to the Pueraria flower powder to form a mixture, stirring and heating the mixture at 60-80° C. for 1-2 hours, removing the first 30-40% ethanol solution from the mixture, adding a second 30-40% ethanol solution to the mixture, stirring and heating the mixture at 60-80° C. for 1-2 hours, removing the second 30-40% ethanol solution from the mixture, and combining the first 30-40% ethanol solution and the second 30-40% ethanol solution to obtain an extract solution.

In another embodiment, the step (2) includes: adding a first 40% ethanol solution to the Pueraria flower powder to form a mixture, stirring and heating the mixture at 60° C. for 1 hour, removing the first 40% ethanol solution from the mixture, adding a second 40% ethanol solution to the mixture, stirring and heating the mixture at 60° C. for 1 hour, removing the second 40% ethanol solution from the mixture, and combining the first 40% ethanol solution and the second 40% ethanol solution to obtain an extract solution.

In another embodiment, in the step (4), the crude extract contains 25% solid components.

In another embodiment, the step (5) includes: adding anhydrous ethanol solution to the crude extract to reach an ethanol concentration of the crude extract of 80%, storing the crude extract at 20° C. for 1-4 hours.

In another embodiment, the step (6) includes: centrifuging the crude extract at a speed of 3000 r/min to obtain a supernatant.

The invention provides an application of the Pueraria flower extract extract rich in isoflavones in foods, health products and medicines, especially in beverages and oral liquids.

Compared with the prior art, the Pueraria flower extract obtained by the present invention has excellent solubility in water, high content of Pueraria flower isoflavones and high yield, and can be used in food, beverages and oral liquids. The process operation is simple and feasible, and is suitable for industrial production.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Example 1:

1 kg of dried Pueraria flower raw material was grinded to obtain a powder, and powder was passed through 40 mesh sieves. 3 kg of 40% ethanol was added, and the mixture was stirred and heated at 60° C. for 1 hour for extraction. The ethanol extraction solution was collected. Additional 3 kg of 40% ethanol was added, and the mixture was stirred and heated at 60° C. for 1 hour for extract. The ethanol extraction solution was collected and combined with the ethanol extraction solution from the first extraction. The combined ethanol extraction solution was filtered to remove solids and concentrated under reduced pressure to obtain a crude extract that includes 25% solid components. Anhydrous ethanol was added to the crude extract to an ethanol concentration of 80%. The crude extract solution was placed at room temperature for 2 hours, and a precipitate was formed. The crude extract solution was centrifuged at 3000 r/min for 10 minutes, and the supernatant was collected and concentrated under reduced pressure to remove ethanol to obtain an extract. The extract was then spray-dried to obtain 187 g of Pueraria flower extract. The yield of isoflavones was 92.6%, and the isoflavones content was 32.2%. A 1% aqueous solution of the Pueraria flower extract was clear and bright, with a turbidity of 12.4 NTU.

Example 2

1 kg of dried Pueraria flower raw material was grinded to obtain a powder, and powder was passed through 40 mesh sieves. 3 kg of 40% ethanol was added, and the mixture was stirred and heated at 60° C. for 1 hour for extraction. The ethanol extraction solution was collected. Additional 3 kg of 40% ethanol was added, and the mixture was stirred and heated at 60° C. for 1 hour for extract. The ethanol extraction solution was collected and combined with the ethanol extraction solution from the first extraction. The combined ethanol extraction solution was filtered to remove solids and concentrated under reduced pressure to obtain a crude extract that includes 40% solid components. Anhydrous ethanol was added to the crude extract to an ethanol concentration of 80%. The crude extract solution was placed at room temperature for 2 hours, and a precipitate was formed. The crude extract solution was centrifuged at 3000 r/min for 10 minutes, and the supernatant was collected and concentrated under reduced pressure to remove ethanol to obtain an extract. The extract was then spray-dried to obtain 155.6 g of Pueraria flower extract. The yield of isoflavones was 27.1%, and the isoflavones content was 11.3%. A 1% aqueous solution of the Pueraria flower extract was clear and bright, with a turbidity of 19.7 NTU.

Example 3

1 kg of dried Pueraria flower raw material was grinded to obtain a powder, and powder was passed through 40 mesh sieves. 3 kg of 50% ethanol was added, and the mixture was stirred and heated at 60° C. for 1 hour for extraction. The ethanol extraction solution was collected. Additional 3 kg of 50% ethanol was added, and the mixture was stirred and heated at 60° C. for 1 hour for extract. The ethanol extraction solution was collected and combined with the ethanol extraction solution from the first extraction. The combined ethanol extraction solution was filtered to remove solids and concentrated under reduced pressure to obtain a crude extract that includes 10% solid components. Anhydrous ethanol was added to the crude extract to an ethanol concentration of 80%. The crude extract solution was placed at room temperature for 2 hours, and a precipitate was formed. The crude extract solution was centrifuged at 3000 r/min for 10 minutes, and the supernatant was collected and concentrated under reduced pressure to remove ethanol to obtain an extract. The extract was then spray-dried to obtain 231.2 g of Pueraria flower extract. The yield of isoflavones was 91.4%, and the isoflavones content was 25.7%. A 1% aqueous solution of the Pueraria flower extract was clear and bright, with a turbidity of 37.4 NTU.

Finally, the above-mentioned embodiments are merely examples for clearly illustrating the present invention, rather than limiting the implementation manners. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other changes or changes in different forms can be made on the basis of the above description. There is no need to give an exhaustive list of all implementation methods. The obvious changes or changes derived from this are still within the protection scope of the present invention.