ISOMERIZATION OF AMINO-ACIDS IN FOODS .2. D-AMINO ACIDS IN FOOD AND THEIR PHYSIOLOGICAL-PROPERTIES

A short communication published in "Lancet" of December 1989 prompted many consumers and consumer associations to write to the Federal Health Office and ask for information about whether the consumption of microwave heated milk is dangerous to health. The contribution reports on an isomerization of the amino acids proline and hydroxyproline in microwave-heated milk. These questions are reason enough to consider the general problem of amino acid isomers in food from the physiological and technological point of view. Part I deals with the fundamentals of the isomerization process and describes the natural rate of D-amino acids, Part II with the present state of knowledge of D-amino acids in food, the physiological consequences and the influence of the heating process on the isomerization of milk proteins.