Antigenic activities of various cooked eggs and processed foods supplemented with egg were examined as the amount of salt soluble ovomucoid (OM) in them by ELISA competitive inhibition analysis using mouse anti OM serum, because OM is recognized as a major allergen in egg. Eleven cooked eggs and 8 processed foods supplemented with egg were prepared. The amount of salt soluble OM extracted from the samples was determined by comparison with OM concentration in raw egg. The allergenic potential of the cooked eggs and processed foods supplemented with egg was ranked for 4 groups according to the salt soluble OM amount in the once intake of the cooked eggs or processed foods. Salt soluble OM in soft boiled egg, omelets, scrambled egg, Japanese pudding, crepe, fish cake and Awayuki-kan were as same as that of raw egg, and these samples were ranked as the strongest. Doughnut showed weak OM antigenicity and was ranked as the weak. OM in egg processed food coexisted with wheat flour such as cookie and doughnut, showed lower solubility. Salt soluble OM decreased according to the higher heating temperature, longer heating time and/orcoexistence with wheat flour. Ranking of some cooked egg and processed foods in the list were in cases variable in the other published lists.

View full abstract

Fertile interspecific progenies from the cross of African rice (Oryza glaberrima) and Asian rice (O. sativa) were developed by WARDA. We evaluated their starch characteristics in comparison with African rice and Asian rice to disseminate them to West African farmers. The frequency distribution of amylose content in African rice had a higher average value and narrower range than those of Asian rice. Amylose content of the interspecifics was just 1.4% lower than that of African rice in average. However, its frequency distribution in the interspecifics widely ranged beyond the values of their parents, especially toward the direction for low amylose content. The frequency distribution of viscosity characteristics by Brabender viscogram (viscosity) in the interspecifics was different from that expected from their amylose content and it corresponded to stickier rice texture. The amylose content had much more dominant effects on viscosity than protein content. African rice had some factor making rice texture more rigid, whereas the interspecifics had another factor making it a little bit stickier. Such factors specified by rice species affected viscosity less than amylose content but more than protein content. Since protein content had small influence on viscosity and variation of viscosity in the interspecifics was quite large, it could be possible to select high protein lines with medium texture generally accepted by West African people from the existing interspecifics.

View full abstract

The effect of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-enriched Agaricus blazei (AG-GABA) and mycelia of Agaricus blazei (AG-M) on blood pressure of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) was studied. Powdered AG-GABA or AG-M was fed on SHR at the levels of 5% (Experiment-A) or 2% (Experiment-B) in a 1% NaCl (control) diet for 21 or 28 days and that systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured by tail cuff. Animals of AG-GABA and AG-M groups showed significantly lower blood pressure compared to the control group. AG-GABA had stronger hypotensive effect than AG-M. The serum levels of total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride of groups fed AG-GABA and AG-M were lower than those of the control group, and atherogenic index [(TC-HDL-C)/HDL-C] was improved in 21 or 28 days. The inhibitory activity of the angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) was compared among of AG-GABA, AG-M and GABA. The IC₅₀ of AG-GABA and AG-M for ACE were 1.9 and 1.7 mg/ml, respectively. However, GABA showed no inhibitory activity against the ACE. These phenomena suggested that AG-GABA has concomitant hypotensive effects by GABA and ACE inhibitory substance (unknown).

View full abstract

The production of koji-catalyzed hydrolysates from dried bonito (KHDB) was investigated. The sixty % ethanol treated dried bonito was hydrolyzed by soy sauce koji in 10% NaCl and 5% ethanol. After 3 months hydrolysis at 30°C, total nitrogen, formol nitrogen, and pH of mash reached 1.53%, 0.73%, and 5.32, respectively. No increase of yeast and lactic acid bacteria during hydrolysis was observed. The respective concentration of NaCl, and ethanol was 11.8%, and 6.1%, respectively. The average peptide length of KHDB was 4.7, and longer than 3.5 of soy sauce. HPLC-GPC showed that KHDB contained much peptides having molecular weights between 1, 000 and 3, 000. KHDB had ID50 value of 1.52mg protein/ml for angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE), and contained 35.1mg/100ml of γ-aminobutyric acid, which is equivalent to 135.0mg/100g dry wt. KHDB is thought to have potential as an anti-hypertensive seasoning. For evaluation of usefulness of KHDB as a seasoning, sensory analysis of KHDB was done in comparison with soy sauce. Although "clear soup", "Tempura soup", and "Nimono" were made with the same concentration of sodium chloride, KHDB showed lower salty taste (p<0.1) than soy sauce. At the cocking with rice vinegar, KHDB suppressed sour taste more clearly (p<5) than soy sauce.

View full abstract

It is well known that trypsin-inhibitor (TI) in soybeans is readily inactivated by boiling. In previous reports, the author found that TI in intact soybeans was readily inactivated by parching but TI in flour or flake was not. On the other hand, it was reported that TI was readily inactivated when soybean flour enclosed in an ampoule was parched. In this paper, the difference between these two observations was examined and the following results were obtained. Moisture in soybean flour was readily evaporated by parching, but moisture in flour enclosed in an ampoule was not. The degree of TI inactivation by parching was in proportion to the quantity of moisture of soybean flour in the ampoule. As intact soybeans were covered with seed coat and cell membrane, moisture was difficult to be evaporated. Therefore, the TI in intact soybeans seemed to be readily inactivated by parching. It has been known that thermal denaturation of 11S- and 7S-soybean proteins is not influenced by the quantity of moisture in the presence of a large quantity of moisture, but in the presence of a small quantity of moisture it is remarkably influenced and thermal stability of those proteins remarkably increase. The results obtained here suggest that the cause and the effect of TI inactivation in soybeans seem to be similar to those of thermal stability of 11S- and 7S soybean proteins.

View full abstract

Gabaron tea is the special tea enriched with γ-aminobutyric acid by anaerobic treatment of fresh tea leaves. For analyzing γ-aminobutyric acid in gabaron tea an ionchromatographic method was newly developed. Optimum mobile phase concentration attaining more separative analysis and preparation methods obtaining complete extraction of r-aminobutyric acid were investigated. A low coefficient of variation in determined values and high recovery percentages of pure γ-aminobutyric acid added to sample teas were obtained. Experimental values obtained here agreed well with those obtained by the conventional method in the γ-aminobutyric acid content. The proposed method in this paper provides simple and accurate analysis of γ-aminobutyric acid; there is no need to use precolunn derivatization by o-phthalaldehyde and removal of polyphenols in sample preparation, and employment of gradient elution and internal standard in measurement as required in the conventional method.

View full abstract

The tea of mulberry (Morus alba) leaves were extracted with 70% ethanol. The extracts inhibited the proliferation of human promyelocytic leukemic HL-60 cells in a dosedependent manner. The extracts activated the caspase-3 of the cells, one of the key enzyme of apoptosis. Moreover, DNA ladder formation and apoptotic body formation were observed in the presence of the extracts. These results suggest that the extracts from the tea of mulberry leaves is an excellent functional food containing effective substance for preventing cancer.

View full abstract

The effect of gelatin and collagen peptides (each 50 and 100mg oral administration for 21 days) on the skin collagen synthesis, which used the index of hydroxyproline content in the soluble fraction of skin, was studied by male Wistar rats. In the case of unshaved or shaved treatment, the hydroxyproline contents in 50 and 100mg gelatin groups did not increase compared with control group. In contrast, the hydroxyproline contents in 50 and 100mg collagen peptides groups resulted in a significant increase compared with control group. These results suggest that the administration of collagen peptides enhance the hydroxyproline content in the soluble fraction of skin, which may be related to skin collagen synthesis of rats, more easily than gelatin.

View full abstract

Antimutagenicity of dimethylsulfoxiside extracts from 63 fruit samples, including peaches, pears, apples, grapes, and persimmons on the Trp-P2 induced mutagenicity to Salmonella typhimurium TA98 was examined. Each preparation showed its characteristic antimutagenicity against the mutagenicity of Trp-P2. Persimmon leaf extracts had very high antimutagenicities among the specimens tested.

View full abstract