The nonenzymatic browning reactions of fructose and fructose-lysine aqueous model systems were investigated at 100 Њ Њ Њ Њ ЊC between pH 4.0 and pH 12.0 by measuring the loss of reactants and monitoring the pattern of UV-absorbance and brown color development. At all the pH values tested, the loss of fructose was lower in the presence than in the absence of lysine. And, in lysine-containing fructose solution, the sugar disappeared more rapidly than the amino acid. Lysine was moderately lost below pH 8.0. Caramelization of fructose, which accounted for more than 40% of total UV-absorbance and 10 to 36% of brown color development, may therefore lead to overestimating the Maillard reaction in foods.

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The interaction between glucose and essential amino acids at 100 degrees C at pH values ranging from 4.0 to 12.0 was investigated by monitoring the disappearance of glucose and amino acids as well as the appearance of brown color. Lysine was the most strongly destroyed amino acid, followed by threonine which induced very little additional browning as compared with that undergone by glucose. Around neutrality, the nonenzymatic browning followed pseudo-zero-order kinetics after a lag time, while the glucose and amino acid losses did not follow first-order kinetics at any of the pH values tested. Glucose was more strongly destroyed than all of the essential amino acids, the losses of which are really small at pH values lower than 9.0. However, glucose was less susceptible to thermal degradation in the presence of amino acids, especially at pH 8.0 with threonine and at pH 10.0 with lysine. The contribution of the caramelization reaction to the overall nonenzymatic browning above neutrality should lead to an overestimation of the Maillard reaction in foods.

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