Fermented Okinawa ukon 100g

By putting ukon (curcuma) through the process of fermentation, it is made much easier to drink while retaining all its useful components. In Okinawa you will likely find smelly ukon products lined up on a shelve in every vegetable store.

As goes the old Japanese proverb "Good medicine tastes bitter." Bitter and smelly ukon products are almost impossible to take without disgust for most non-Okinawans. But taking into account all the proven health effects of ukon it would be a great waste not to use it. Here is when the fermented ukon comes into play. One of the pioneer developers of this product was the professor emeritus Hongo from the Agricultural Department of Ryukyu University in Okinawa. "It took us almost eight years of research to find an appropriate microorganism and produce a fermentation biotechnology which both allowed us to remove the bitter taste and strong odor of ukon while preserving and even improving its bio-active properties" says the professor. It is important to note that after ukon has gone through the fermentation process, both its antioxidative activity and the mineral content go up. The antioxidative activity is known to supress the activity of the active oxygen which is known to be harmful to human body cells in many ways.

It has been confirmed that after the curcumin pigment from ukon gets assimilated in our digestive system, it turnes to tetrahydrocurcumin, a substance with outstanding antioxidative properties. This was confirmed in experiments made at the Kagawa Nutrition University. By undergoing the process of fermentation, calcium, potassium, selenium, manganese, magnesium, iron, zinc and flavonoid content increases as well. Compared to the unprocessed ukon, such health effects as antioxidative, hepatotonic, anti-tumor, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory gain an extra boost in the fermented ukon.

To show the true antioxidative potential of fermented ukon an experiment was conducted on the 90 year old Okinawans (Okinawa boasts record lifespan in Japan and there is no shortage of elderly people in Okinawa prefecture). Theses people were given two grams of fermented ukon on the daily basis. By using the ELISA-method the 8-OHｄG substance which is produced as a result of cell oxidation stress and gets discharged with urine, was measured and the so far ambiguous “aging” term was given the scientific ground and was measured in numbers. In the beginning of the experiment the average value for 8-OHｄG was 40, but after 12 weeks of the experiment this value started dropping drastically. Two weeks after stopping taking the fermented ukon, this value dropped as low as 18 which is less than half of the original value. This experiment proved that fermented ukon not only slows down the aging, but also promotes the rejuvenation. Dark spots and wrinkles on our skin are the typical signs of skin aging. It was also proved that ukon helps eliminate gelatinase, the ferment thought largely responsible for skin aging. After considering the massive research results on its health effects, ukon has received a due attention at the level of the state in Japan. In Japan you will not find a drug store or a supermarket where there is no ukon tonic or ukon supplemental food.

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