Other Effects
Anti-oxidative Action of Fucoidan
Food and oxygen are something human beings cannot live without. Oxygen is in stable supply in underground, but inside living organisms like ourselves it changes to superoxide, peroxide, hydroxy radicals and oxygen radicals due to stress, life habits, environmental pollutants and a number of other reasons, and these oxygen radicals have various negative effects on things that constitute our body. Indeed, oxygen radicals are considered a cause of aging, cancer, arterial sclerosis, hypertension, Parkinson’s disease and various other illnesses. To fend off such negative reactions caused by oxygen radicals, naturally our body provides anti-oxidative mechanisms. To protect against oxygen-related problems, for example, our body produces SOD, catalase, peroxidase and other anti-oxidative enzymes which act upon active oxygen radicals to remove them from our body. On the other hand, vitamin E, polyphenol compounds, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and other anti-oxidative substances derived from food also demonstrate oxygen-radical elimination action and other beneficial effects to help our body defend itself from oxygen radicals. This is only one example of the complex interrelationships between the inherently important factors of health, food and oxygen, and natural anti-oxidants derived from food reportedly play important roles in these relationships. We examined the anti-oxidative action of Fucoidan by utilizing DPPH radicals, and hydroxy radicals generated by the oxidation-reduction reaction of iron (Fenton reaction). The results show that the Fucoidan concentration rose at each concentration level of radicals, confirming the anti-oxidative action of Fucoidan. The results also suggest presence in Fucoidan of polyphenols that have anti-oxidative action and are found in tea, herbs and red wine, and this presence of polyphenols may explain the anti-oxidative effect of Fucoidan.
These results from our experiments present hopes that the anti-oxidative action of Fucoidan will contribute to the improvement/curing of aging, cancer and various other illnesses.
Radical elimination activity of Fucoidan measured by the hyaluronic acid method
Radical elimination activity of Fucoidan measured by the DPPH method
Radical elimination activity of Fucoidan measured by the deoxyribose method
Total polyphenol content in Fucoidan
(Joint research with Kagoshima University, Faculty of Agriculture)
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We are conducting research on fucoidan, whose various physiological functions have been elucidated, including 'anti-tumor,' 'cholesterol-lowering,' 'blood pressure-lowering,' and 'anti-virus' effects.