Timely Addition of Glutathione for Its Interaction with Deoxypentosone To Inhibit the Aqueous Maillard Reaction and Browning of Glycylglycine–Arabinose System

The inhibitory effects of glutathione (GSH) and oxiglutathione (GSSG) on Maillard browning were compared, and it was clarified that free sulfhydryl was the key substance for the inhibition. The Amadori rearrangement product (ARP) derived from glycylglycine (Gly-Gly) and arabinose (Ara) was prepared by aqueous Maillard reaction, and LC-MS/MS was used to investigate the reaction products of GSH and purified ARP. Reaction between GSH and deoxypentosone (DP) was found to alter the pathway of aqueous Maillard reaction, which reduced the production of glyoxal, methylglyoxal, and furfural and thereby inhibited the formation of melanoidins. To determine the optimal conditions for browning inhibition, a stepwise increase of temperature was used to prepare Maillard reaction products (MRPs). The results showed that the optimum browning inhibitory effect was obtained by adding GSH after Gly-Gly and Ara heating at 80 °C for 60 min.