• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.378-385
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• 2002

Oxidant radicals are implicated as a causal factor in the pathogenesis of neurobiological disorders and neuro-degenerative diseases. The objective of this study was to investigate the antioxidant activity of edible plants against oxidative stress in bovine brain tissue. Fifty five kinds of edible plants grown in Korea were dried either by freeze-drying or hot-air drying (7$0^{\circ}C$), and evaluated for their antioxidant activity by measuring TBARS (thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances) in brain homogenates subjected to Fe$^{+2}$_mediated lipid peroxidation with or without the addition of botanical extracts. Heat-drying decreased the antioxidant activity of most plant extracts by 10~81%, compared with freeze-drying. However, Aruncus americanus, Ligularia stenocephala, Artemisia princceps var. orientalis, Petasites japonicus and Aster scaber showed very strong antioxidant activities regardless of processing, with or without heat treatment. The $IC_{50}$/ values of the methanol extracts from these edible plants were in the range of 0.093~0.379 mg/$m\ell$, which was lower than that of ascorbic acid (0.79 mg/$m\ell$). Thermal processing of some edible plants enhanced their antioxidant activity.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1235-1239
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• 2008

To study the health promoting effects of medicinal plants, 30 medicinal plants commonly available in Korea have been evaluated for their antioxidant compounds and antioxidant and antiproliferative activities. Total polyphenolics and flavonoids in the methanolic extracts were measured by spectrophotometric methods and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging activities and chelating effects have been determined for antioxidant activities. Moreover, the effects of medicinal plants on cell proliferation of intestinal (Caco-2) and pituitary (GH3) tumor cells were investigated using thiazolyl blue terazolium bromide (MIT) assay. The methanolic extracts of Pueraria thunbergiana and Artemisiae asiatria contained the highest total polyphenolic and flavonoid contents, respectively. P. thunbergiana exhibited the highest antioxidant activities. A. asiatria showed the strongest antiproliferative activity against Caco-2 and Ponciruc trifoliata Rafin and Lophathrum gracile Bronghiart exhibited the highest activities against GH3. Although there was positive correlation between ABTS radical scavenging activity and polyphenolic contents ($R^2=8189$), no relationship was found between antiproliferative and antioxidant activities.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2006

It is of utmost importance to feed the current world population by improving agricultural production with newer varieties of food crops, but what is still more important is to add nutrition into the food. Some of the plants, which are currently growing in the wastelands, contain certain phytochemicals which add to their neutraceutical and health value. These plants contain secondary metabolites which enhance the over all metabolic functions of the body. Withasteroids are one of such phytochemicals. These chemicals are almost exclusively found in plants of the Solanaceae family; one of which, Physalis minima, contains several with asteroids. The aerial parts and roots of P. minima have been found to contain several steroids, identification of which is been discussed in this paper. These with asteroids contribute to the functional value since incorporation of withanolides in the diet may prevent or decrease the growth of tumors in humans.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.369-377
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• 2006

Data from the 2001 Korea Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey, were analyzed to assess prevalence of health intended food use overall and in relation to socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics. Health intended food were classified into four broadly defined categories: vitamin and mineral supplements, health aid food, animal protein based restorative food and medicinal plants. Thirty three percent of adults aged 20 years or older reported taking health intended food in the past year : twenty four percent took vitamin or mineral supplements and medicinal plants were taken by 17 % of adults, health aid food by 15% and animal protein based restorative food by 6%. In multivariate logistic regression, female gender, older age, more education, regular exercise and non smoking were associated with greater use of vitamin or mineral supplements. Dietary quality was significantly associated with use of vitamin or mineral supplements or health aid food but not with use of medicinal plants or animal protein based restorative foods. Obese persons were less likely to take vitamin or mineral supplements. These findings suggest that epidemiologic studies of diet, demographic or lifestyle and health take health intended food use into account because of high prevalence of use of the food by the population and differential use of the food by socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 1993

The "Namul" is a Korean common vegetable food composed of edible young leaves and soft stalks of wild plants or cultivating vegetables and treated with traditional condiments. It has been widely used as not only a regular diet but seasonal foods or special ceremonial foods. In this thesis, the kinds of edible plants for namul were philologically approached by books published in Korea from Koryo to Chosun dynasty. The first historical record about cultivated vegetable as food in Korea was a garlic and a gourd in $\ulcorner$Samkuksaki$\lrcorner$. According to numerous records, edible wild plants might have played an important part as food resources, since they have variable edible portions as famine relief foods. Four kinds of namul were first introduced in Koryo age, but in Chosun dynasty over eighty kinds were recorded. The root of ballonflower and white radish were most commonly used for raw namul and bamboo shoot and squash for boils ones. Most kinds of namul were introduced in $\ulcorner$Zeungtosanrimkwungiae$\lrcorner$ and $\ulcorner$Limwonsiprwukji$\lrcorner$ influenced by pragmatism in later half period of Chosun. The chronic state of famine in later half period of Chosun caused to introduce various edible wild vegetables, and had greatly influenced on the Korean people to acquire vegetarian food habits and to favor salty taste. It seems to need a further study on recent nutritional problems including dietary fiber.ary fiber.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.157-161
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• 2002

Thirty plants of the Compositae family were screened for inhibitory activity of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE). Among them, Chrysanthemum boreale Makino and Ixeris dentate Nakai were selected for further investigation since they had the highest inhibitory activity. Crude water extracts of the flowers of Chrysanthemum boreale Makino and the roots of Ixeris dentate Nakai were prepared by heating at 95$^{\circ}C$ and 6$0^{\circ}C$ for 2 hr, respectively, followed by centrifugation at 8000$\times$ g far 30 min. Crude extracts were then filtered using YM-3 and YM-1 membranes. The ACE inhibitors were isolated using consecutive chromatographic methods including: Sephadex G-15, ion exchange, FPLC, and reverse phase HPLC. The inhibitors were identified to have molecular masses of 204 and 283 daltons, respectively, by mass spectrometry. These results demonstrate that crude extracts of Compositae plants may be useful as functional food ingredients with anti-hypertensive properties.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.35 no.1 s.136
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• pp.52-61
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• 2004

Inhibitory activities of 264 methanol extracts, which were prepared from different parts of 210 kinds of wild and medicinal plants, against human thrombin were evaluated. Based on the anti-coagulation activity determined by thrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time, the 14 extracts were screened. The fibrinolytic activity, heat stability and inhibition of other proteolytic digestive enzymes, such as pepsin, papain, trypsin and chymotrypsin, of the 14 extracts were further determined, and Ginko biloba (herba), Ephedra sinica (radix), Reynoutria elliptica (herba), Amomum tsao-ko Crevost (fructus), and Magnolia officinalis Rehd. et Wils (bark) were finally selected as possible plant sources for anti-thrombosis agent. These results suggested that medicinal and wild plants could be the potential source of thrombin inhibitor.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.465-472
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• 2012

We examined plants that were used as temple food in Jeju from May 2011 to January 2012. Thirty-six temples participated in the study, and there were 58 questionnaire respondents. Fifty-seven taxa were used as temple food, which belonged to 27 families, 51 genera, 55 species, and two varieties. The most commonly used family-based taxa were eight species of Compositae, six species of Cruciferae, and four species of Umbelliferae. Ten species of woody plants and 25 species of Jeju native plants were also used as temple food. The most useful part was the leaf, followed by the root, leaflet, and fruit. A patent search showed that most of the surveyed plants were covered by intellectual property rights. Forty-eight species had food-related patents, 34 species had cosmetics-related patents, and 38 species had medicine-related patents. The purchase and procurement of Jeju temple food plants usually depended on the market or plant cultivation rather than the use of the plants. Gathering of wild herbs for temple food has been performed on a limited basis. Therefore, collecting traditional knowledge for the use of Jeju plant resources should be conducted under different conditions rather than through a temple-related study.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.510-518
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• 2013

This study aims to demonstrate the effect of farming technology on introducing medicinal plants (MP) and wild food plants (WFP) into a traditional agricultural system within peri-urban zones. Field investigations and semi-structured focus group interviews conducted in the Buhozi community showed that 27 health and nutrition problems dominated in the community, and could be treated with 86 domestic plant species. The selected domestic MP and WFP species were collected in the broad neighboring areas of the Buhozi site, and introduced to the experimental field of beans and maize crops in Buhozi. Among the 86 plants introduced, 37 species are confirmed as having both medicinal and nutritional properties, 47 species with medicinal, and 2 species with nutritional properties. The field is arranged in a way that living hedges made from Tithonia diversifolia provide bio-fertilizers to the plants growing along the hedges. The harvest of farming crops does not disturb the MP or WFP, and vice-versa. After harvesting the integrated plants, the community could gain about 40 times higher income, than from harvesting farming crops only. This kind of field may be used throughout the year, to provide both natural medicines and foods. It may therefore contribute to increasing small-scale crop producers' livelihood, while promoting biodiversity conservation. This model needs to be deeply documented, for further pharmaceutical and nutritional use.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.189-195
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• 2010

Water extracts from 20 medicinal plants, traditionally used for postmenopausal symptoms in Korea, were examined for their vasorelaxant activity in isolated rat thoracic aorta rings precontracted with norepinephrine (NE). Among the 20 medicinal plants, Cornus officinalis (CoEx, 0.3 mg/mL), Schisandra chinensis (ScEx, 0.3 mg/mL), Erythrina variegate (EvEx, 0.3 mg/mL), and Epimedium koreanum (EkEx, 0.3 mg/mL) showed rapid relaxation of endothelium-intact aorta ($69\pm4%$, $40\pm3%$, $25\pm2%$, and $23\pm3%$ of active tone induced by NE, respectively). In contrast, the extracts of Erythrina variegata (EvEx), Angelica gigas (AgEx), Pueraria thunbergiana (PtEx), and EkEx lead to gradual (i.e., long-term) relaxation to baseline in endothelium-intact vessels. The time to complete relaxation was 20～40 min. These 6 plant extracts were selected for the investigation of possible underlying mechanisms. The CoEx-, ScEx-, or EkEx-induced rapid relaxations were virtually abolished by endothelium denudation, and were significantly inhibited by pretreatment with nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor $N^G$-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA, 10 ${\mu}M$), indicating that increased formation of NO might contribute to the endothelium-mediated relaxation. In long-term responses, the endothelium denudation did not affect PtEx-induced relaxation, whereas it delayed responses by EvEx and AgEx, and significantly inhibited the effect of EkEx. Among EvEx, AgEx, and PtEx, EvEx attenuated the $CaCl_2$-induced vasoconstriction in high-potassium depolarized medium, implying that EvEx is involved in inhibition of the extracellular calcium influx to smooth muscle through voltage dependent calcium channels. These results provide the scientific rationale for the interrelationships between the use of 20 medicinal plants and their effects on cardiovascular health in estrogen deficient conditions.