抄録
(1) It was spectrographically estimated that several specimens of shoyu oil supplied by different soy sauce brewers contained ergosterol at a level of about 1.1_??_1.454 and those of sterol isolated from the oil at about 16.7_??_20.0%.
(2) Both shoyu oil and its sterol were shown to be rendered highly antirachitic by means of ultra-violet irradiation, daily doses of 1/10mg of irradiated oil and 1/10mg of irradiated sterol being sufficient to produce a constant healing of rickets in rats.
(3) There are several evidences to indicate that a major part of ergosterol found in shoyu oil can be produced by aspergillus oryzae and other micro-organisms during the fermentation and only its minor part to be derived from the raw materials of soy sauce.
(4) It is suggested that shoyu oil can be utilized as the cheapest source of ergosterol in Japan among the known substances containing ergosterol.
