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After extensive testing on both lab animals and humans, Miracle Fruit has been found to be absolutely safe for human
consumption. There are reports showing that lab animals given a Miracle Fruit diet ended up healthier at the end of testing
than the control animals that ate none!
Improvement of insulin resistance by miracle fruit (sYNSEPALUM DULCIFICUM) in fructose-richchow-fed rats. - In PTR. Phytotherapy Research
ISSN 0951-418X ; 2006, vol. 20, no11, pp. 987-992 [6 page(s) (article)] (25 ref.). The authors CHEN Chang-Chih (1) ; LIU
I.-Min (2) ; CHENG Juei-Tang (3).
The researchers concluded that the in vivo insulin sensitivity was markedly raised by miracle fruit. In conclusion, the results
suggest that miracle fruit may be used as an adjuvant for treating diabetic patients with insulin resistance because this fruit
has the ability to improve insulin sensitivity.
(1) Department of Emergency Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital and College of Oral Medicine,Taipei Medical
University, Taipei City, 10401, TAIWAN, PROVINCE DE CHINE
(2) Department of Pharmacy, Tajen University, Yen-Pou, Ping Tung Shien, 90701, TAIWAN, PROVINCE DE CHINE
(3) Department of Pharmacology. College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, 70101, TAIWAN,
PROVINCE DE CHINE
hydrolyzed the glycoprotein, acidic foods would continue to taste sweet as the sweet receptors continued to "fire" by
exposure to sour foods. This has been known to last 18 hours in rare cases. No aftertaste was ever reported; although other
flavors were slightly enhanced, such as the degree of saltiness.
It should be noted here that it was also proven beyond doubt that the central nervous system is not affected by the miracle
fruit, which was a concern of the FDA, which was also fearful that children could be harmed by the dulling of their natural
taste defenses, allowing them to consume harmful substances. Small children are most frequently poisoned by aspirin;
miraculin was tested and proven NOT to mask its characteristically bitter taste. Organic acids- especially citric acidare the
substances that are modified to the greatest degree. Battery acid will NOT become a tasty drink.
Dr. Linda Bartoshuk now works at the Center for Smell and Taste at the University of Florida.
Hiroshi Igeta(a), Yoichiro Tamura(a), Kazuyasu Nakaya(b), Yasuharu Nakamura(b)and Yoshie Kurihara(a),
Here we present the abstract of their work:
The taste-modifying protein, miraculin (Theerasilp, S. et al. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 66556659) has seven cysteine
residues in a molecule composed of 191 amino acid residues. The formation of three intrachain disulfide bridges at Cys-47Cys-92, Cys-148-Cys-159 and Cys-152-Cys-155 and one interchain disulfide bridge at Cys-138 was determined by amino
acid sequencing and composition analysis of cystine-containing peptides isolated by HPLC. The presence of an interchain
disulfide bridge was also supported by the fact that the cystine peptide containing Cys-138 showed a negative color test for
the free sulfhydryl group and a positive test after reduction with dithiothreitol. The molecular mass of nondashreduced
miraculin (43 kDa) in sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was nearly twice the
calculated molecular mass based on the amino acid sequence and the carbohydrate content of reduced miraculin (25 kDa).
The molecular mass of native miraculin determined by low-angle laser light scattering was 90 kDa. Application of a crude
extract of miraculin to a Sephadex G-75 column indicated that the taste-modifying activity appears at 52 kDa. It was
concluded that native miraculin in pure form is a tetramer of the 25 kDa-peptide and native miraculin in crude state or
denatured, nondashreduced miraculin in pure form is a dimer of the peptide. Both tetramer miraculin and native dimer
miraculin in crude state had the taste-modifying activity.
(a) Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Education, Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan b School of
Pharmaceutical Sciences, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan
New technologies for taste modifying proteins - "Proteins pack muscle to modify taste"
The article mentions the following:
Miracle fruit or Synsepalum dulcificum fruit are ellipsoid, red and have a palatable pulp containing the seed. They have
the ability to alter the perception of taste in a way that makes sour foods like lemon or vinegar taste sweet. This alteration of
taste perception persists for many minutes. Miraculin may be used as a food additive to alter the taste of food, such as by
masking sourness in some foods, or may be taken separately, before consuming a meal.
While fresh berries of S. dulcificum are very potent, damaged fruit or crude extracts become quickly denatured, and so the
aim of protein purification is to separate miraculin from factors in a crude extract that cause protein breakdown, followed by
preservation of miraculin. For purification, the fruits of S. dulcificum are homogenized in 1% PEG 20,000 in water. Dissolution
of miraculin is achieved by adjusting the pH to 7 with saturated sodium carbonate solution. The suspension is filtered through
glass and added to an equal volume of acetone with stirring. The precipitate is harvested by centrifugation at 1200g for 10
minutes and is washed with 2 volumes of 50% v/v acetone. The washed precipitate is dissolved in 0.1 M potassium
phosphate buffer pH 7.0.
Future Trends
Bulk sweeteners and flavorsome ingredients such as sugars are essential in foods and food processing. However, foods
can be substantially improved by the use of intense sweeteners and flavor enhancers. Recent advances are removing the
barrier of scarcity that has limited the use of TMPs (Taste Modifying Proteins), and new advances will further exploit
structural and biochemical studies of TMPs.
The production of TMPs for the food industry has been limited by the expense of protein purification and by the limited
availability of fruit to process. The protein nature of these ingredients and their amenability to genetic engineering and
biotechnology suggest a solution to these limits.
Molecular biology will be used in the future to manipulate the quality rather than the quantity of TMPs available. Properties
that may be manipulated in the future are taste intensity, aftertaste and taste profile, which have already been modulated in
biochemical experiments. Once the molecular basis of these changes in taste have been elucidated, then protein
engineering may be used to alter the taste properties of TMPs and allow the production of tailor-made molecules on an
industrial scale.
The preceding article was condensed and edited from its original, "New technologies for taste modifying proteins,
"published in the July 1998 Trends in Food Science & Technology, Elsevier Science Ltd.
Michael Witty can be reached by phone at +44-1223-330219; fax: +44-1223-333953; e-mail:mw132@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk
Complete amino acid sequence and structure characterization of the taste-modifying protein,
miraculin
S Theerasilp, H Hitotsuya, S Nakajo, K Nakaya, Y Nakamura and Y Kurihara. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of
Education, Yokohama National University, Japan.
The taste-modifying protein, miraculin, has the unusual property of modifying sour taste into sweet taste. The complete
amino acid sequence of miraculin purified from miracle fruits by a newly developed method (Theerasilp, S., and Kurihara, Y.
(1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 11536- 11539) was determined by an automatic Edman degradation method. Miraculin was a
single polypeptide with 191 amino acid residues. The calculated molecular weight based on the amino acid sequence and
the carbohydrate content (13.9%) was 24,600. Asn-42 and Asn-186 were linked N-glycosidically to carbohydrate chains. High
homology was found between the amino acid sequences of miraculin and soybean trypsin inhibitor.
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 264, Issue 12, 6655-6659, 04, 1989
Complete purification and characterization of the taste-modifying protein, miraculin, from miracle
fruit
S Theerasilp and Y Kurihara. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Education, Yokohama National University, Japan.
The taste-modifying protein, miraculin, has the unusual property of modifying a sour taste into a sweet taste. Previous
attempts to isolate miraculin from deeply colored alkaline extracts of the miracle fruit were unsuccessful. We found that
miraculin is extracted with 0.5 M NaCl solution. The extracted solution is colorless and shows the strong sweet-inducing
activity. Miraculin was purified from the extracted solution by ammonium sulfate fractionation, CM-Sepharose ion-exchange
chromatography, and concanavalin A-Sepharose affinity chromatography. The purified miraculin thus obtained gave a single
sharp peak in reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography, indicating that it is highly pure. The sample also gave
a single band having molecular weight 28,000 in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. This value was
much lower than the values reported previously (40,000-48,000). The amino acid composition of the purified miraculin was
determined. Sequence analysis of the purified miraculin indicated that it is composed of a pure single polypeptide and
identified 20 amino-terminal amino acids. The purified miraculin contained as much as 13.9% of sugars, which consisted of
glucosamine, mannose, galactose, xylose, and fucose in a molar ratio of 3.03:3.00:0.69:0.96:2.12.
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 263, Issue 23, 11536-11539, 08, 1988
for two glycosylation sites, Asn-42 and Asn-186, and 3) two new oligosaccharides, B and D, with unusual structures
containing monoantennary complex-type were characterized. (formula; see text)
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 265, Issue 14, 7793-7798, May, 1990<
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J. N. BROUWER, H. VAN DER WEL, A. FRANCKE & G. J. HENNING. Unilever Research Laboratory, Vlaardingen, The
Netherlands.
The berries of Richardella dulcifica (Schum. and Thonn.) Baehni, formerly designated as Synsepalum dulcificum(1), a
shrub indigenous to tropical West Africa, have long been known for their taste-changing properties(2). These berries, called
miraculous berries or miracle fruit, have the property of modifying the taste of sour foods and dilute mineral and organic acids
into a sweet taste after the fruit pulp has been chewed. This modifying effect lasts for some time, usually for 12 h.
Baehni, C. , Boissiera, 11, 1 (1965).
Daniell, W. F. , Pharm. J., 11, 445 (1852).
Inglett, G. E. , Dowling, B. , Albrecht, J. J. , and Hoglan, F. A. , J. Agric. Food Chem., 13, 284 (1965).
Badran, A. M. , and Jones, D. E. , Nature, 206, 622 (1965). Article
Goldstein, J. L. , and Swain, T. , Phytochemistry, 4, 185 (1965).
Hultin, H. O. , and Levine, A. S. , J. Food Sci., 30, 917 (1965).
Reisfeld, R. A. , Lewis, U. J. , and Williams, D. E. , Nature, 195, 281 (1962). | Article | PubMed | ISI |
ChemPort |
Scott, T. A. , and Melvin, E. H. , Anal. Chem., 25, 1656 (1953). | Article | ISI | ChemPort |
Garin, S. , and Hood, D. B. , J. Biol. Chem., 131, 211 (1939).
Beidler, L. M. , J. Food Sci., 31, 275 (1966); Sci. News Lett., 88, 329 (1965).
Nature 220, 373 - 374 (26 October 1968); doi:10.1038/220373a0
gymnemic acid applied after miraculin diminished the response to acid, then miraculin enhanced the response to acid again.
It was concluded that these electrophysiological findings in monkey parallel the psychophysical observations in man with
regard to the effect of miraculin and gymnemic acid on the response to acids, but that they differ with regard to the effect of
gymnemic acid on the response to sugars.
* On leave from Dept. of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, U.S.A.** On leave from Dept. of Oral Physiology,
Osaka University, Japan.Chemical Senses 1: 137-145, 1974
Abstract:
A 56 year old woman with large cell lung carcinoma complained of an unpleasant sweet taste (dysgeusia). She developed
hyponatraemia caused by the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH). Dysgeusia disappeared
when serum sodium normalised and recurred when hyponatraemia relapsed. Dysgeusia was the initial and only symptom of
SIADH in this case.
Keywords: SIADH; dysgeusia; lung cancer; miraculin
Department of Neurology, Saitama Medical School, Saitama, Japan
Correspondence t
Dr Yoshihiko Nakazato
Department of Neurology, Saitama Medical School, 38 Morohongo Moroyama, Iruma-gun, Saitama 350-0495, Japan;
nakachan@saitama-med.ac.jp
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 2006;77:405-406; doi:10.1136/jnnp.2005.073726
Copyright 2006 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.
On the sense of taste in two Malagasy Primates (Microcebus murinus and Eulemur mongoz)
G. Hellekant, C.M. Hladik(1), V. Dennys(1), B. Simmen(1), T.W. Roberts, D. Glaser(2), G. DuBois(3)and D.E. Walters(4)
University of Wisconsin, Department of Animal Health and Biomedical Sciences, and Wisconsin Regional Primate Center
Madison, WI 53706, USA
The relationship between phylogeny and taste is of growing interest. In this study we present recordings from the chorda
tympani proper (CT) nerve of two lemuriforme primates, the lesser mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) and the mongoose
lemur (Eulemur mongoz), to an array of taste stimuli which included the sweeteners acesulfame-K, alitame, aspartame, Dglucose, dulcin, monellin, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (NHDHC), saccharin, sodium superaspartame, stevioside,
sucralose (TGS), sucrose, suosan, thaumatin and xylitol, as well as the nonsweet stimuli NaC1, citric acid, tannin and
quinine hydrochloride. In M.murinus the effects of the taste modifiers gymnemic acid and miraculin on the CT response were
recorded. Conditioned taste aversion (CTA) experiments in M.murinus and two-bottle preference (TBP) tests in E.mongoz
were also conducted. We found that all of the above tastants except thaumatin elicited a CT response in both species. The
CTA technique showed that M.murinus generalized from sucrose to monellin but not to thaumatin. The intake of aspartame,
ranging in concentration from 0.1 to 30 mM was measured in E.mongoz with TBP tests. At no concentration did we see a
preference, but there was a significant rejection of 10 and 30 mM aspartame (P 0.025). Miraculin had no effects on the CT
response to acids, and gymnemic acid did not selectively suppress the CT response to sucrose or that of any other
sweeteners. The absence of ability to taste thaumatin in these species supports the dichotomy between catarrhine and noncatarrhine species. The difference in results with thaumatin and monellin indicate that their sweet moieties are not identical. It
also points to a phylogenetic difference in taste within the prosimian group. Further, the results with aspartame indicate that
the perception of sweetness from aspartame is limited to catarrhine species. Finally, neither miraculin nor gymnemic acid
exhibit the same taste modifying effects in lemuriformes as they do in hominoidea. Thus the results with gymnemic acid and
miraculin corroborate those obtained earlier in other prosimians.
Miracle fruit is an evergreen shrub that grows in West Africa. The berry of the miracle fruit plant is used as
medicine.
People take miracle fruit to treat diabetes and correct chemotherapy-related taste disturbances.
In foods, miracle fruit is used as a low-calorie sugar-free sweetener.
How does it work?
Miracle fruit contains a chemical that affects taste receptors in the tongue. This chemical makes the tongue
register sour tastes as sweet tastes. The chemical itself has no taste at all.