Abstract: Glucose, fructose, methionine, glycine and arginine were used to conduct Maillard reaction to explore the effect of heating time and mixing ratio on browning degrees of Maillard reaction products (MRPs). The antioxidant activity of the MRP with the highest browning degree was also determined. The results showed that the MRPs of glucose-glycine and fructose-glycine systems under the conditions of 2:1sugar-to-glycine ratio, pH 9.0 and incubation at 100 ℃ for 180 min had the highest browning degree. The MRPs of both glucose-glycine and fructose-glycine systems revealed strong antioxidant activities and the MRP of the fructose-glycine had higher reducing capacity and antioxidant value than that of the glucose-glycine system. The highest inhibition rate for hydroxyl and superoxide anion free radicals of the MRP from the glucose-glycine system reached up to 50.65% and 45.42%, respectively; however, the highest inhibition rate for hydroxyl and superoxide anion free radicals of the MRP from the fructose-glycine system reached up to 57.55 % and 28.54%, respectively.

Key words: Maillard reaction, browning, antioxidant