eng Science and Education Publishing Journal of Food and Nutrition Research 2333-1240 2015-11-26 3 9 613 619 10.12691/jfnr-3-9-9 JFNR2015399 article Shuo Feng 1 2 Shan W 2 2 Michiyuki Kojima kojima@obihiro.ac.jp 2 Department of Food Production Science, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan The effects of protease treatment, glucose addition and adzuki beans saccharification on the radical-scavenging properties of soymilk were evaluated. It was found that protease treatment (8.9 U/ml) and the glucose addition (84 mg/ml) increased the radical-scavenging capacity of soymilk by 1.8 folds. Adzuki bean saccharification (51 U/ml α-amylase and 6.25 U/ml amyloglucosidase) and protease treatment (8.9 U protease/ml) increased radical-scavenging activity by 2.3 folds. This effect was not solely due to the presence of adzuki polyphenols, as melanoidin production, but also due to increased radical-scavenging activity. The correlation between the radical-scavenging capacity of soymilk and melanoidins, or that of mix bean milk and melanoidins was high (soymilk: R2 = 0.94; mix bean: R2 = 0.96). Collectively, these data indicated that protease treatment, glucose addition and adzuki bean milk saccharification affect the radical-scavenging activity of soymilk through melanoidin production. These findings should contribute to the development of soymilk-based antioxidant-rich functional foods formulation in the future. http://pubs.sciepub.com/jfnr/3/9/9/jfnr-3-9-9.pdf soymilk functional food radical-scavenging activity antioxidant activity proteolytic treatment saccharification maillard reaction; melanoidins