Nutraceuticals link nutrition with medicine. They cover dietary supplements, functional foods, and medical foods. The definition of functional foods is the foods that promote health and possibly prevention and curing of certain diseases, in addition to basic nutritional supplementation. This concept is becoming popular with consumers because of a heightened awareness of the link between health and food and nutrition. Food manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies are enthusiastic about developing functional foods because their global market is growing very rapidly. In this article the authors overview the trends and current developments in the markets of functional foods, especially of USA, Europe, Japan, and Korea. The market shares of USA, Europe, and Japan cover more than 85% of the world functional food market. Dietary supplements including vitamin/minerals, herb and phytochemicals also keep growing. We expect a variety of functional foods will play an important role to promote the human health and to create new medical markets in the future.
Dietary Supplements ; Europe ; Functional Food* ; Humans ; Japan ; Korea ; Phytochemicals

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to investigate the in vitro antioxidant and cytoprotective effects of fermented sesame sauce (FSeS) against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidative damage in renal proximal tubule LLC-PK1 cells. MATERIALS/METHODS: 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydroxyl radical (*OH), and H2O2 scavenging assay was used to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant activity of FSeS. To investigate the cytoprotective effect of FSeS against H2O2-induced oxidative damage in LLC-PK1 cells, the cellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), lipid peroxidation, and endogenous antioxidant enzymes including catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-px) were measured. RESULTS: The ability of FSeS to scavenge DPPH, *OH and H2O2 was greater than that of FSS and AHSS. FSeS also significantly inhibited H2O2-induced (500 microM) oxidative damage in the LLC-PK1 cells compared to FSS and AHSS (P < 0.05). Following treatment with 100 microg/mL of FSeS and FSS to prevent H2O2-induced oxidation, cell viability increased from 56.7% (control) to 83.7% and 75.6%, respectively. However, AHSS was not able to reduce H2O2-induced cell damage (viability of the AHSS-treated cells was 54.6%). FSeS more effectively suppressed H2O2-induced ROS generation and lipid peroxidation compared to FSS and AHSS (P < 0.05). Compared to the other sauces, FSeS also significantly increased cellular CAT, SOD, and GSH-px activities and mRNA expression (P < 0.05). CONCULUSIONS: These results from the present study suggest that FSeS is an effective radical scavenger and protects against H2O2-induced oxidative damage in LLC-PK1 cells by reducing ROS levels, inhibiting lipid peroxidation, and stimulating antioxidant enzyme activity.
Animals ; Catalase ; Cats ; Cell Survival ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; Hydrogen Peroxide ; Hydrogen* ; Hydroxyl Radical ; Lipid Peroxidation ; LLC-PK1 Cells ; Oxidative Stress ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; RNA, Messenger ; Sesamum* ; Superoxide Dismutase ; Swine

Quadricuspid aortic valve is a rare congenital malformation of the aortic valve. A case is reported of a 51 year old woman with quadricuspid aortic valve associated with regurgitation. In the past, quadricuspid aortic valve was recognised at surgery or necropsy, but now transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography play a pivotal role in diagnosing this rare valve malformation. On occasion the transthoracic echocardiogram cannot show the quadricuspid nature of the aortic valve, and transesophageal echocardiography must be performed.
Aortic Valve* ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged*

Bamboo salt, a Korean folk medicine, is prepared with solar salt (sea salt) and baked several times at high temperatures in a bamboo case. In this study, we compared the preventive effects of bamboo salt and purified and solar salts on hepatic damage induced by carbon tetrachloride in Sprague-Dawley rats. Compared with purified and solar salts, bamboo salts prevented hepatic damage in rats, as evidenced by significantly reduced serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase (P < 0.05). Bamboo salt (baked 9x) triggered the greatest reduction in these enzyme levels. In addition, it also reduced the levels of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-6, interferon (IFN)-gamma, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. Histopathological sections of liver tissue demonstrated the protective effect of bamboo salt, whereas sections from animals treated with the other salt groups showed a greater degree of necrosis. We also performed reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blot analyses of the inflammation-related genes iNOS, COX-2, TNF-alpha, and IL-1beta in rat liver tissues. Bamboo salt induced a significant decrease (~80%) in mRNA and protein expression levels of COX-2, iNOS, TNF-alpha, and IL-1beta, compared with the other salts. Thus, we found that baked bamboo salt preparations could prevent CCl4-induced hepatic damage in vivo.
Alanine Transaminase ; Animals ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Blotting, Western ; Carbon Tetrachloride ; Cytokines ; Inflammation ; Interferons ; Interleukins ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; Liver ; Medicine, Traditional ; Necrosis ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; RNA, Messenger ; Salts ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha