Amino acids and reducing sugars are the most common sources of the amine and carbonyl groups, respectively.
The nutritional value of a food can be reduced by the destruction of essential amino acids, specially lysine, via this reaction.
Several changes in the properties of foods have been attributed to the Millard reaction. These include: changes in the flavor and aroma compounds; changes in color, particularly browning and, to a lesser extent, fluorescence; production of bioactive compounds, both beneficial and toxic; loss of nutritive value and the formation of stabilizing or mutagenic compounds.
The earliest reported studies of nonenzymatic browning reactions were initiated by Louis Camille Maillard who heated amino acids in solution with high levels of glucose as he investigated the biosynthesis of proteins.
In 1913, he hypothesized the reaction that accounts for the brown pigments and polymers produced from the reaction of the amino group of amino acids and the carbonyl group of sugar.
The Maillard reaction is dependent upon factors such as pH, time, temperature, concentration of reactants and reactant type.
Many foods qualities are affected by the Maillard reaction in foods during processing and storage and the potential rewards of deconvoluting this maze of reactions in food are enormous.
Maillard reaction in food