• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2009

Carotenoids being most important pigments among those occurring in nature, have received increased interest owing to their beneficial effects on human health. An effort is made to review marine carotenoids as important bioactive compounds with reference to their presence, chemical, and biofunctional benefits they afford. The potential beneficial effects of marine carotenoids were particularly focused on astaxanthin and fucoxanthin, major marine carotenoids found in marine animals and aquatic plants, respectively. Both carotenoids show strong antioxidant activity which is attributed to quenching singlet oxygen and scavenging free radicals. The potential role of the carotenoids as dietary antioxidants has been suggested as being one of the main mechanism by which they afford their beneficial health effects such as anticancer activity and anti-inflammatory effect. Only recently, antiobesity effect and antidiabetic effect have been noted as specific and novel bio-functions of fucoxanthin. Nutrigenomic study reveals that fucoxanthin induces uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) expression in white adipose tissue (WAT) mitochondria to lead to oxidation of fatty acids and heat production in WAT. Fucoxanthin improves insulin resistance and decreases blood glucose level, at least in part, through the down-regulation of tumor necrosis factor $\alpha$ ($TNF{\alpha}$) in WAT of animals.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.142-158
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• 2019

Kimchi is a traditional Korean fermented vegetable probiotic food. The use of high quality ingredients and predominant LAB (lactic acid bacteria)-whether it be ambient bacteria or adding starters, low temperature and facultative anaerobic condition for the fermentation are important factors for preparing kimchi with better taste and functionality. The predominated LAB genera are Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Weissella in kimchi fermentation. The representative species are Leu. mesenteroides, Leu. citrium, Lab. plantarum, Lab. sakei, and Wei. koreensis. Kimchi, especially the optimally fermented kimchi, has various health benefits, including control of colon health, antioxidation, antiaging effects, cancer preventive effect, antiobesity, control of dyslipidemic and metabolic syndrome, etc.; due to the presence of LAB, various nutraceuticals, and metabolites from the ingredients and LAB. The kimchi LAB are good probiotics, exhibiting antimicrobial activity, antioxidant, antimutagenic and anticancer effects, as well as immunomodualatory effect, antiobesity, and cholesterol and lipid lowering effects. Thus, kimchi ingredients, LAB, fermentation methods, and metabolites are important factors that modulate various functionalities. In this review, we introduced recent information showing kimchi and its health benefits in Korean Functional Foods (Park & Ju 2018).

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.589-599
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• 2019

Background: Panax ginseng Meyer is known as a conventional herbal medicine, and ginsenoside Rg1, a steroid glycoside, is one of its components. Although Rg1 has been proved to have an antiobesity effect, the mechanism of this effect and whether it involves adipose browning have not been elucidated. Methods: 3T3-L1 and subcutaneous white adipocytes from mice were used to access the thermogenic effect of Rg1. Adipose mitochondria and uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) expression were analyzed by immunofluorescence. Protein level and mRNA of UCP1 were also evaluated by Western blotting and realtime polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Results: Rg1 dramatically enhanced expression of brown adipocyte-especific markers, such as UCP1 and fatty acid oxidation genes, including carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1. In addition, it modulated lipid metabolism, activated 5' adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase, and promoted lipid droplet dispersion. Conclusions: Rg1 increases UCP1 expression and mitochondrial biogenesis in 3T3-L1 and subcutaneous white adipose cells isolated from C57BL/6 mice. We suggest that Rg1 exerts its antiobesity effects by promoting adipocyte browning through activation of the AMP-activated protein kinase pathway.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.529-539
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• 2019

Purpose: Sprouts of evening primrose (Oenothera laciniata, OL) were reported to have high contents of flavonoids and potent antioxidant activity. This study examined the antioxidant and antiobesity activities of OL sprouts to determine if they could be a natural health-beneficial resource preventing obesity and oxidative stress. Methods: OL sprouts were extracted with 50% ethanol, evaporated, and lyophilized (OLE). The in vitro antioxidant activity of OLE was examined using four different tests. The antiobesity activity and in vivo antioxidant activity from OLE consumption were examined using high fat diet-induced obese (DIO) C57BL/6 mice. Results: The IC₅₀ for the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activities of OLE were 26.2 ㎍/mL and 327.6 ㎍/mL, respectively. OLE exhibited the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) activity of 56.7 ㎍ ascorbic acid eq./mL at 100 ㎍/mL, and an increased glutathione level by 65.1% at 200 ㎍/mL compared to the control in the hUC-MSC stem cells. In an animal study, oral treatment with 50 mg or 100 mg of OLE/kg body weight for 14 weeks reduced the body weight gain, visceral fat content, fat cell size, blood leptin, and triglyceride levels, as well as the atherogenic index compared to the high fat diet control group (HFC) (p < 0.05). The blood malondialdehyde (MDA) level and the catalase and SOD-1 activities in adipose tissue were reduced significantly by the OLE treatment compared to HFC as well (p < 0.05). In epididymal adipose tissue, the OLE treatment reduced the mRNA expression of leptin, PPAR-γ and FAS significantly (p < 0.05) compared to HFC while it increased adiponectin expression (p < 0.05). Conclusion: OLE consumption has potent antioxidant and antiobesity activities via the suppression of oxidative stress and lipogenesis in DIO mice. Therefore, OLE could be a good candidate as a natural resource to develop functional food products that prevent obesity and oxidative stress.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.38 no.11
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• pp.1522-1527
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• 2009

We investigated the effects of feeding diet containing medicinal plant water extracts (MPWEs) on body weight, epididymal adipose tissue weight, adipocyte size of epididymal adipose tissue and plasma lipid levels in high fat (HF) diet-induced obese mice. To test antiobese effects of diet containing the MPWEs, C57BL/6J mice were fed with HF diet for 11 weeks. In the last 6 weeks, the HF diet was supplemented with 0 (HFD) or MPWEs (5 g/kg, HFD＋MPWEs) or orlistat [0.5 g/kg, HFD＋orlistat (antiobesity drug)]. The HF-free diet group was fed normal chow for 11 weeks. Eleven-weeks feeding with HFD resulted in significant increase in lipid levels, body weight, liver and epididymal adipose tissue weights, compared with the HF-free group. Diet containing MPWEs significantly reduced plasma total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglyceride and glucose concentrations as well as body weight, liver weight and epididymal adipose tissue weight. Plasma triglyceride levels were significantly lower in the HFD＋Forlistat group after 6 weeks and a similar effect was found with HFD＋MPWEs group. The adipocyte size of epididymal adipose tissue in HFD group was significantly larger than those of HF-free group. MPWEs and orlistat (positive control) significantly decreased the size of epididymal adipocytes but orlistat was slightly more effective than MPWEs. These results suggest that oral feeding of the MPWEs may have antiobesity effects by suppressing body weight gain, adipose tissue formation and adipocyte size increase.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 2020

Objectives: In this study, we investigated the antiobesity and antidiabetic effects of polyherbal extract, DM2 consisting of Atractylodis Rhizoma, Anemarrhenae Rhizoma, Cinnamomi Cortex, and Moutan Radicles Cortex in high fat diet-induced obesity mice. Methods: DM2 extract was prepared with a hot water. Six-week-old male C57BL/6N mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 8 weeks and then administrated with DM2 extract (500 mg/kg, p.o.) for 4 weeks. The changes of physiological markers, body weight (BW), food and water intakes, and the levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG) were measured once a week for 4 weeks in mice. The the serum levels of glucose, insulin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total cholesterol (T-CHO), triglyceride, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol in sera were measured in mice using autometic chemical analyzer and enzyme linked immunosorbant assay. We also observed the histological changes of liver and pancreatic tissues with Hematoxylin & Eosin staining. Results: In physiological change, the increases of BW, calorie intake, and FBG in HFD-induced obese mice were significantly decreased after administration of DM2 extract for 4 weeks. The decrease of water intake was significantly increased in DM2 extract-administrated mice. In serological change, the administration of DM2 extract in obesity mice was significantly decreased the serum levels of glucose, insulin, T-CHO, AST, and ALT levels. We also found that DM2 extract inhibited the increase of lipid droplets in liver and the structural destruction of pancreatic tissues in obesity mice. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that DM2 extract has antiobesity antidiabetic effects with body weight loss, decrease of glucose and insulin levels, and lipid accumulation on liver tissue.

• 축산식품과학과 산업
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2020

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.137-153
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• 1998

It is found that many kinds of spices and herbs have a deodorization, acrid, coloration, antimicrobial or antioxidant effect. They also have physiological actions such as antiaging effect, anticancer effect, endurance enhancement, or stress degradation. Therefore, development of the dairy products with those above benefical effects of natural spices and herbs is necessary, and the functional dairy products which has an anticancer, antiobesity or coelenterate will be useful foods, especially patients.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.199-199
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• 2005

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.702-702
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• 2020