Effects of Rakkyofructan on Postprandial Glucose Level in Plasma

The effect of Rakkyofructan on the glucose level in plasma after intake of high carbohydrate diet was investigated. The six healthy female volunteers consumed 50 g of carbohydrate meal (the glucose, the cooked white rice, the bread, or the cooked sweet potato) with or without Rakkyofructan. Blood specimen was collected of before and 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 and 150 min after intake, and the glucose level in plasma was measured. The peak value (Cmax) and the area under curve (AUC) of blood glucose level were significantly decreased in the group ingested glucose with Rakkyofructan compared to the group which ingested glucose only. The blood glucose level was suppressed from 60% to 32% (glucose; 43.1±15.5%, cooked white rice; 40.5±13.5%, cooked sweet potato; 53.4±16.5%, bread; 68.5±20.5%) (p＜0.01) by Rakkyofructan with 50 g of carbohydrate meal. These results indicated that Rakkyofructan could inhibit the increase of blood glucose level after high carbohydrate diet intake

Micronutrient status effects on glucose tolerance in rats

Decrease in bioavailability ofmicronutrients including retinol occurred frequently in patients with diabetes mellitus. We supposed that iron status might relate to glucose metabolism, because vitamin A utilization is inhibited in iron deficiency. To clarify the mechanism of these relationships, following experiment was carried out. Rats were divided into four groups: male wistar-strain rats, which fed the normal diet （N）, the iron-deficient diet （ID）, the retinol-deficient diet （RD）, and Goto-Kakizaki rat （diabetic model rats, GK） fed the normal diet. Every rat was trained to daily meal feeding （9:00-18:00） to measure serum glucose. After 4 weeks of these dietary regiments, serum glucose was higher in iron-deficient rats than the N-group and the RD-group. Hepatic retinol was higher in the ID-group than the GK-group and the N-group. Serum retinol was lower in the ID-group than the GK-group and the N-group. These results suggested that iron deficiency induced glucose intolerance in rats. In conclusion, micronutrients status effect on a diabetic conditio

Effect of feeding Fukui plum (Benisasi) fruit juice powder on the growth and serum constituent of rats

福井梅の品種には，主に｢紅映（べにさし）｣が栽培されている．福井梅は，機能性としてポリフェノー ルを多く含み，抗酸化活性も高い．炭水化物量は他の梅と差がなく，クエン酸，リンゴ酸などを含み， 甘くまろやかな味である．また，旨味成分の遊離アミノ酸やミネラルのカルシウム，カリウム，マグ ネシウムを多く含み，梅干しや梅ワイン，梅ジュースなど優れた特徴がある．本研究では，梅果汁粉 末の総ポリフェノール含量( クロロゲン酸相当) は，2.58 ± 0.16mg/ ｇ，抗酸化能の活性は，平均3.6 μ mol Torolox / ｇであった．梅果汁を粉末化した製品をラットの食餌に0.5％，3.0％濃度を投与し血 液成分の影響を検討した．ラットの生育には対照と比較し影響なかった．肝臓重量は高値（ｐ <0.05） に認めた．血清グルコースは，他の成分と拮抗して血糖値の上昇を抑制し，血糖値が低下（ｐ <0.05） した．総コレステロール，中性脂質はC 群とU3.0 群の間に低値（ｐ <0.05）に認めた．盲腸内容物の pH は，3％濃度で高値（ｐ <0.05）となった