Kagome Co., Ltd. corporate planning headquarters’ research institute, through animal tests carried out during collaborative research with Professor Kimio Sugiyama of Shizuoka University, has confirmed the reduction function of spinach on homocysteine in blood. According to the results of the current research, it can be expected that by consuming spinach a preventive function on arteriosclerosis will be observed.
The content of this research was announced at the 13th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Food Factors.
Although it is thought that the onset of arteriosclerosis is related to a number of factors, one well-known factor is blood cholesterol. The current study, however, concentrated on homocysteine in blood, which is said to increase the risk of arteriosclerosis by a different mechanism to that of blood cholesterol. The results confirmed that spinach did in fact have a reductive effect on homocysteine in blood. It is thought that the active ingredient producing this effect is betaine, of which spinach contains a large amount.