Sunflower protein hydrolysates for dietary treatment of patients with liver failure

A method is described to obtain hydrolysates with defined characteristics a nd a high Fischer ratio for patients with liver failure, using sunflower pr oteins (globulin fraction-ii) as starting material. Protein with a branched chain amino acid (BCAA) concentration of 29.7 +/- 1.7% is treated in a fir st step with immobilized chymotrypsin (raw hydrolysate-1). Subsequent ultra filtration (cut-off 3 kDa) of the hydrolysate gives sunflower protein hydro lysate-1 (SFPH-I). In a second step, SFPH-I is treated with immobilized car boxypeptidase-A at alkaline pH for quasi-selective removal of aromatic amin o acids (AAA). This sequential two-step process, followed by size exclusion chromatography on a Sephadex G-15 column, yields a product (SFPH-II) with a BCAA concentration of 37.4 +/- 2.2% and an AAA concentration of 0.5 +/- 0 .1%, which gives a very high Fischer ratio (approximate to 75). The product , comprising mainly peptides with molecular weights in the range of 3500 to 750 Da and free amino acids, is hypoallergenic and shows no or only a trac e of bitterness. Any bitterness can be completely removed by treatment with Flavozyme(R), giving a hydrolysate that is composed mainly by tri- and dip eptides and free amino acids, and is termed highly hydrolyzed protein hydro lysate (HHPH). Both SFPH-II and HHPH can be used in enteral, parenteral, an d oral nutrition for the treatment of patients with liver failure. This pro duct presents all the conditions required for use in the treatment of patie nts with liver failure: high content in BCAA and low content in AAA, below 2%, and consequently, a very high Fischer ratio, congruent to 75.