Abstract
Kokuto (brown sugar)-shochu (a brewed and distilled alcohol beverage) is produced mainly in the Amami area of Kagoshima.
Kokuto-shochu lees was separated from the post-distillation slurry of brown sugar-shochu by centrifugation, and the precipitation was freeze-dried.
The effects were determined of the freeze-dried kokuto-shochu lees on the serum and liver lipid levels and on nutritional value in rats. An atherogenic diet containing 5% or 10% freeze-dried kokuto-shochu lees was given to 5 week-old Wistar rats for 35 days.
The serum total cholesterol level in the rats fed on the kokuto-shochu lees was significantly lower than the level in the control diet group, but the addition of kokuto-shochu lees to the diet induced no change in the concentration of HDL-cholesterol, free cholesterol, triacylglycerol or phospholipids in the serum.
The liver total lipids, cholesterol and triacylglycerol levels in the rats fed on the 10% kokuto-shochu lees diet were significantly lower than those in the rats fed on the control diet.
The excretion of fecal bile acids and cholesterol were significantly higher from the kokuto-shochu lees diets than from the control diet.
These results suggest that the diet containing kokuto-shochu lees had a beneficial effect on the level of serum and liver lipids in rats.
