• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.252-257
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• 1998

Bamboo salt has been used as a traditional remedy for gastric ulcer and gastro-intestinal disorders. It is produced by baking the salt packed in bamboo cylinder nine times under the fire of pine tree. Three of commercially available bamboo salt products (bamboo salt A, B, and C) were characterized by qualitative and quantitative analyses using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectrometer, ion chromatograph (IC), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and electron microscope (EM). Compared with crude salt, the contents of iron, silicon, potassium, and phosphate in the bamboo salt products were higher whereas the sulfate content was lower. Water-insoluble fraction of bamboo salts contained the following compounds; MgO, $SiO_2,\;Mg_2Si0_4,\;and\;CaMgSi0_4$. The study on the microscopic structures of the bamboo salts were shown to have smooth surface and fused shape compared with crude salt. Among the three bamboo salt products, product A was used to test a possible inhibitory effect on gastric acid secretion. Each test material (bamboo salt A, crude salt, and reagent-grade NaCl) was given orally to Sprague-Dawley rats at doses of 0.2, 1.0, and 2.0 g/kg for 28 days before pyrolus ligation. Twenty four hours after the last administration of the test materials, volume, pH, total acidity, and pepsin activity of gastric juice were measured by the Shay-ligation method. No significant differences were observed in the secretion of gastric acid between treated groups (bamboo salt-, crude salt- and reagent-grade NaCI-treated groups) and control group (distilled water-treated group). This result demonstrated that bamboo salt did not exert anti-ulcer activities in experimental animals used in the present study.