2024 Volume 20 Pages 2-14
Yakushu (or kusuri-zake), made by immersing ingredients in alcoholic beverages, was prevalent in early modern Japan for improving health conditions. This study focuses on kiku-zake, which is made using the chrysanthemum flower and shochu or sake, and discusses the significance of the base liquor in making kiku-zake. First, we found that kiku-zake could have beneficial effects, such as relieving headaches and improving the eyes and ears condition, through a literature survey, which are common health concerns for a wide generation. Thereafter, we immersed edible chrysanthemum in shochu or sake and obtained chrysanthemum extracts (CE-shochu or CE-sake) to demonstrate their effect on cultured cells. Both CE-shochu and CE-sake suggested a headache-easing effect through COX2 gene suppression and improvement of the eye conditions by increasing intracellular glutathione levels. sake suppressed COX2 gene expression, indicating that it is bioactive regardless of the presence of chrysanthemum. However, shochu did not exhibit such effects without chrysanthemum. These results suggest that shochu provides the chrysanthemum flowers with medicine-like activities and that people in early modern Japan could benefit from kiku-zake, specifically that made using shochu.
