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eCAM Advance Access published online on January 6, 2009
eCAM, doi:10.1093/ecam/nen082
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© 2008 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Evaluation of Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity in Kampo Medicine

Ko Nishimura1, Toshihiko Osawa2 and Kenji Watanabe1

1Center for Kampo Medicine, School of Medicine Keio University, Tokyo and 2Laboratory of Food and Biodynamics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya, Japan

Antioxidant capacity of food has come to be shown in terms of oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) mainly on vegetables or fruit. However, the evaluation of Kampo in terms of ORAC has not yet been accomplished. It is important that such an investigation is also conducted for Kampo medicine. We measured the ORAC value of almost all the available Kampo formulas used in the Japanese National health insurance system and examined the ORAC value both for the daily prescription, and also the crude herb ingredients. The ORAC value of Kampo medicine ranged 4.65–5913 units/day. The ORAC value was high in Kampo formulas including Rhei Rhizoma, and was relatively high in Kampo formulas including anti-inflammatory herbs other than Rhei Rhizoma. The ORAC value was also high in Kampo formulas including crude herbs that have relaxation effects. The ORAC value of a crude herb would seem to not be fixed but be dependent on combination with other crude herbs from the comparison of different herbs added to the basic Kampo medicine. These results suggest variability and complexity of the antioxidant capacity of Kampo medicine within the similar range of food. On the other hand, investigation of the compound changes of various crude herbs with ORAC may lead to the elucidation of the action mechanism of Kampo medicine.

Keywords: anti-infective agents – antioxidants and free radicals – herbal medicine – herbal therapy

For reprints and all correspondence: Ko Nishimura, Center for Kampo Medicine, School of Medicine Keio University, 35 Shinano-machi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan. Tel: +81-3-5366-3824; Fax: +81-3-5366-3825; E-mail: knsmr{at}sc.itc.keio.ac.jp, ko-n{at}utopia.ocn.ne.jp

Received September 9, 2008; accepted December 5, 2008


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