Development of novel food materials for lifestyle disease prevention using edible fungi

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25350120
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Eating habits
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: KUMURA HARUTO 北海道大学, 農学研究院, 教授 (00241365)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 紅麹菌 / 機能性代謝産物 / 脂質代謝

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Monascus species, known as red-mold has the ability to produce diverse functional secondary metabolites such as lovastatin, monascin and ankaflavin which are responsible for health benefits including risk reduction of arteriosclerosis. It would be applicable for development of functional foods, however, some strains of Monascus sp. produce nephrotoxin, citrinin. Therefore, strain and culture condition should be carefully selected. In addition to the selection of test strains, we focused on the materials for culture substrate, which should be solid with convenience for preparation, if necessary, capability to add nutritional supplements, applicability to wide pH range and “ready to eat” property of the culture products. Following the screening of the suitale strain and culture condition, the resulting culture products were fed to experimental animals whether it could exert predicted biological effects.

Free Research Field

食品科学