Recent interest on the immune system has been focused on the Th 1/Th 2 balance, because this greatly contributes to controlling the balance between cellular and hormonal immunity. Such cytokines as IL-10 and IL-12, which are produced by monocyte/macrophages, play an important role in the Th 1/Th 2 balance.
THP-1 cells, which were used as the model of monocyte/macrophages, were cultured in the presence of seven different vegetable extracts. The contents of IL-10 and IL-12 in the culture medium and the viability of the cells were respectively determined by ELISA and a WST-1 assay. A Japanese white radish extract induced cell proliferation which caused an increase in the contents of IL-10 and IL-12 in the culture medium. Cooking, especially heating and the addition of soy sauce reduced the functions of Japanese white radish.
These results indicate that the effects of cooking on the biological activities of food materials have to be examined in order to judge the real activities of food in various dishes.
