Carrot Juice & Crohn's Disease

Carrot juice contains lots of vitamins and minerals -- ideal for people with Crohn's disease, who can struggle to absorb vitamins from a normal diet. If you have Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel condition, your doctor may suggest you follow a low-fiber/low-residue diet. Carrot juice and other vegetable juices fit into this type of diet. Not everyone with Crohn's disease will tolerate carrot juice. Experimenting with a little carrot juice at a time will help test your reaction.

Your body digests carrot juice far more easily than raw, hard carrots. Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images

Fiber

Some people with Crohn's cannot tolerate high-fiber foods. This includes raw vegetables such as carrots, which some people may find difficult to digest. Juicing a carrot removes most of the fiber, but keeps lots of the nutritional value. However, fiber makes up an important part of a healthy diet. Drinking carrot juice with some of the pulp retained in the liquid helps improve the fiber content of the juice without putting too much stress on the bowel.

Carrot Juice Benefits

At times, Crohn's patients may struggle to get nutrients and vitamins from their diet. Common deficiencies in Crohn's patients include folic acid, calcium and zinc, as well as vitamins A, K and D. Drinking carrot juice offers a way to get a whole range of vitamins and minerals. It includes vitamins A, K and D, as well as B, C and E. Carrot juice also contains minerals such as calcium, which may play a role in helping the integrity of intestinal walls. You also get B vitamin complexes such as folic acid from carrot juice.

Water and Diarrhea

Diarrhea is a common symptom of Crohn's disease. Diarrhea dehydrates the body, which can leave you feeling weak and sick. Steven D. Erlich, N.M.D., at the University of Maryland Medical Center suggests that carrot juice makes an ideal drink to get fluids back into the body and restore your balance of electrolytes when experiencing diarrhea. A cup of carrot juice also contributes to your daily water consumption. MayoClinic.com recommends getting at least eight to nine cups of water each day.

Considerations

To make carrot juice, you'll need around a pound of carrots to make an 8 oz. cup of juice. Electronic juicers offer the most convenient and speedy way to juice carrots, though using a standard blender makes a fine alternative. Carrots juice well with some other vegetables, particularly celery. A squeeze of lemon, orange or lime juice gives the juice added zest. However, some people with Crohn's are sensitive to citrus fruits, so take care not to add too much.

www.livestrong.com

ASPERGILLUS ORYZEAE

Aspergillus oryzae, known in English as kōji (from Japanese kōji 麹), is a filamentous fungus (a mold (used in Chinese and other East Asian cuisines to ferment soybeans for making soy sauce and fermented bean paste, and also to saccharify rice, other grains and potatoes in the making of alcoholic beverages such as huangjiu, sake, makgeolli, and shōchū. The domestication of A. oryzae occurred at least 2000 years ago. A. oryzae is also used for the production of rice vinegars.

Dr. Eiji Ichishima of Tohoku University called the kōjifungus a "national fungus" (kokkin) in the journal of the Brewing Society of Japan, because of its importance not only for making the koji for sakebrewing, but also for making the koji for miso, soy sauce, and a range of other traditional Japanese foods. His proposal was approved at the society's annual meeting in 2006.

"Red kōji-kin" is a separate species, Monascus purpureus.

Aspergillus oryzae
A. oryzae growing on rice to make koji
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukarya
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Ascomycota
Class:	Eurotiomycetes
Order:	Eurotiales
Family:	Trichocomaceae
Genus:	Aspergillus
Species:	A. oryzae
Binomial name
Aspergillus oryzae (Ahlburg) E. Cohn

Aspergillus oryzae
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	麴
Simplified Chinese	麹
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin qū Wade–Giles ch'ü1 IPA [tɕʰý] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization kūk Southern Min Tâi-lô khak Middle Chinese Middle Chinese kʰjowk Old Chinese Baxter-Sagart *kʰ(r)ok
Korean name
Hangul	누룩곰팡이
Transcriptions McCune–Reischauer nuruk-gompang-i
Japanese name
Kanji	麹
Transcriptions Romanization kōji

History of koji

300 BCE – A. oryzae is first mentioned in the Zhouli (Rites of the Zhou dynasty) in China. Its development is a milestone in Chinese food technology, for it provides the conceptual framework for three major fermented soy foods: soy sauce, jiang / miso and douchi, not to mention grain-based wines (including Japanese sake) and li (the Chinese forerunner of Japanese amazake).

Properties desirable in sake brewing and testing

These properties of A. oryzae strains are important in rice saccharification for sake brewing:

• Growth: rapid mycelial growth on and into the rice kernels
• Enzymes: strong secretion of amylases (α-amylase and glucoamylase); some carboxypeptidase; low tyrosinase.
• Aesthetics: pleasant fragrance; accumulation of flavoring compounds
• Color: low production of deferriferrichrome (a siderophore), flavins and other colored substances

Varieties used for shōchū making

Three varieties of kōji mold are used for making shōchū, each with distinct characteristics.

• White was discovered at the beginning of the Taishō period, when natural mutation and separation of some black kōji to white was observed. This effect was researched and white kōji was successfully grown independently. White kōji is easy to cultivate and its enzymes promote rapid saccharization; as a result, it is used to produce most shōchū today. It gives rise to a drink with a refreshing, gentle, sweet taste.
• Black is mainly used in Okinawa to produce awamori. It produces plenty of citric acid which helps to prevent the souring of the moromi. Of all three kōji, it most effectively extracts the taste and character of the base ingredients, giving its shōchū a rich aroma with a slightly sweet, mellow taste. Its spores disperse easily, covering production facilities and workers' clothes in a layer of black. Such issues led to it falling out of favour, but due to the development of new kuro-kōji (NK-kōji) in the mid-1980s, interest in black kōji resurged amongst honkaku shōchū makers because of the depth and quality of the taste it produced. Several popular brands now explicitly state they use black kōji on their labels.
• Yellow is used to produce sake, and at one time all honkaku shōchū. However, yellow kōjiis extremely sensitive to temperature; its moromi can easily sour during fermentation. This makes it difficult to use in warmer regions such as Kyūshū, and gradually black and white kōji became more common. Its strength is that it gives rise to a rich, fruity, refreshing taste, so despite the difficulties and great skill required, it is still used by some manufacturers. It is popular amongst young people and women who previously had no interest in typically strong potato shōchū, playing a role in its recent revival.

Genome

Initially kept secret, the A. oryzae genome was released by a consortium of Japanese biotechnology companies in late 2005. The eight chromosomes together comprise 37 million base pairs and 12 thousand predicted genes. The genome of A. oryzae is thus one-third larger than that of two related Aspergillus species, the genetics model organism A. nidulans and the potentially dangerous A. fumigatus. Many of the extra genes present in A. oryzae are predicted to be involved in secondary metabolism.  The sequenced strain isolated in 1950 is called RIB40 or ATCC 42149; its morphology, growth, and enzyme production are typical of strains used for sake brewing.

Use In Biotechnology

Resveratrol can be produced from its glucoside piceid through the process of fermentation by A. oryzae.

In Fiction

A. oryzae is a supporting character (of sorts) in the manga series Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture and its anime adaptation.

References

1. ^ Index Fungorum.
2. ^ ^a b Rokas, A. (2009). "The effect of domestication on the fungal proteome". Trends in genetics : TIG 25 (2): 60–63. doi:10.1016/j.tig.2008.11.003. PMID 19081651.
3. ^ Fujita, Chieko, Tokyo Foundation Koji, an Aspergillus.
4. ^ Shurtleff, W.; Aoyagi, A. History of Koji - Grains and/or Soybeans Enrobed with a Mold Culture (300 BCE to 2012). Lafayette, California: Soyinfo Center. 660 pp. (1,560 references; 142 photos and illustrations, Free online)
5. ^ Kitamoto, Katsuhiko (2002). "Molecular Biology of the Koji Molds". Advances in Applied Microbiology. Advances in Applied Microbiology 51: 129–153. doi:10.1016/S0065-2164(02)51004-2.  ISBN 9780120026531. PMID 12236056 Retrieved 2008-01-03.
6. ^ "In-depth". Retrieved 2007-01-24. (Japanese)
7. ^ "What is Shochu?" Retrieved 2007-01-24.
8. ^ "Other terminology relating to Shochu and Awamori".Retrieved 2007-01-27.(Japanese)
9. ^ "Shochu Circle"  Retrieved 2007-12-11.
10. ^ Goffeau, André (December 2005). "Multiple moulds". Nature 438 (7071): 1092–1093. doi:10.1038/4381092. PMID 16371993.
11. ^ Machida, Masayuki; et al. (December 2005). "Genome sequencing and analysis of Aspergillus oryzae". Nature 438 (7071): 1157–1161. doi:10.1038/nature04300  PMID 16372010.
12. ^ Galagan JE, et al. (December 2005). "Sequencing of Aspergillus nidulans and comparative analysis with A. fumigatus and A. oryzae". Nature 438 (7071): 1105–1115. doi:10.1038/nature04341 PMID 16372000.
13. ^ Wang, H.; Liu, L.; Guo, Y. -X.; Dong, Y. -S.; Zhang, D. -J.; Xiu, Z. -L. (2007). "Biotransformation of piceid in Polygonum cuspidatum to resveratrol by Aspergillus oryzae". Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 75 (4): 763–768. doi:10.1007/s00253-007-0874-3 PMID 17333175.

- Wikipedia 

RED YEAST RICE

Red yeast rice (simplified Chinese: 红曲米: traditional Chinese: 紅麴米),  pinyin: hóng qū mǐ; literally: "red yeast rice"), red rice koji (べにこうじ, lit. 'red koji') or akakoji(あかこぎ, also meaning 'red koji'), red fermented rice, red kojic rice, red koji rice, anka, or ang-kak, is a bright reddish purple fermented rice, which acquires its colour from being cultivated with the mold Monascus purpureus.

Dried grain red yeast rice.

Red yeast rice is what is referred to, in Japanese, as a koji, meaning 'grain or bean overgrown with a mold culture', a food preparation tradition going back to ca. 300 BC. In both the scientific and popular literature in English that draws principally on Japanese, it is most often known as "red rice koji". English works favoring Chinese sources may prefer the translation "red yeast rice".

Because of the low cost of chemical dyes, some producers of red yeast rice have adulterated their products with the dye Sudan Red G.

Uses
Culinary

Red yeast rice is used to colour a wide variety of food products, including pickled tofu red rice vinegar, char siu, Peking Duck, and Chinese pastries that require red food colouring. It is also traditionally used in the production of several types of Chinese wine, Japanese sake (akaisake), and Korean rice wine (hongju), imparting a reddish colour to these wines. Although used mainly for its colour in cuisine, red yeast rice imparts a subtle but pleasant taste to food and is commonly used in the cuisine of Fujian regions of China.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

In addition to its culinary use, red yeast rice is also used in Chinese herbology and traditional Chinese medicine. Its use has been documented as far back as the Tang Dynasty in China in 800 AD. It is taken internally to invigorate the body, aid in digestion, and revitalize the blood. A more complete description is in the traditional Chinese pharmacopoeia, Ben Cao Gang Mu-Dan Shi Bu Yi, from the Ming Dynasty (1378–1644).

Red Yeast Rice and Drugs

In the late 1970s, researchers in the United States and Japan were isolating lovastatin from Aspergillus and monacolins from Monascus, respectively, the latter being the same fungus used to make red yeast rice but cultured under carefully controlled conditions. Chemical analysis soon showed that lovastatin and monacolin K are identical. The article "The origin of statins" summarizes how the two isolations, documentations and patent applications were just months apart. Lovastatin became the patented, prescription drug Mevacor for Merck & Co. Red yeast rice went on to become a contentious non-prescription dietary supplement in the United States and other countries.

Lovastatin and other prescription "statin" drugs inhibit cholesterol synthesis by blocking action of the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase. As a consequence, circulating total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol are lowered. In a meta-analysis of 91 randomized clinical trials of ≥12 weeks duration, totaling 68,485 participants, LDL-cholesterol was lowered by 24-49% depending on the statin. Different strains of Monascus fungus will produce different amounts of monacolins. The 'Went' strain of Monascus purpureus (purpureus = dark red in Latin), when properly fermented and processed, will yield a dried red yeast rice powder that is approximately 0.4% monacolins, of which roughly half will be monacolin K (identical to lovastatin). Monacolin content of a red yeast rice product is described in a 2008 clinical trial report.

Regulatory Restrictions

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) position is that red yeast rice products that contain monacolin K, i.e., lovastatin, are identical to a drug and, thus, subject to regulation as a drug. In 1998, the FDA initiated action to ban a product (Cholestin) containing red yeast rice extract. The U.S. District Court in Utah allowed the product to be sold without restriction. This decision was reversed on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals. (Moore, 2001) (see Further Reading: PDRhealth). Thereafter, the FDA sent Warning Letters to companies selling red yeast rice. The product disappeared from the market for a few years.

In 2003, red yeast rice products began to reappear in the U.S. market. In 2007, the FDA sent Warning Letters to two dietary supplement companies. One was making a monacolin content claim about its RYR product and the other was not, but the FDA noted that both products contained monacolins. Both products were withdrawn. The FDA also issued a warning press release (see Further Reading; FDA 2007). The crux of the release was that consumers should "… not buy or eat red yeast rice products … may contain an unauthorized drug that could be harmful to health." The rationale for "… harmful to health …" was that consumers might not understand that the dangers of monacolin-containing red yeast rice might be the same as those of prescription statin drugs.

As of 2016, there are at least 30 brands available. Many of these avoid the FDA restriction by not having any appreciable monacolin content. Their labels and websites say no more than "fermented according to traditional Asian methods" or "similar to that used in culinary applications." The labeling on these products often says nothing about cholesterol. If they do not contain lovastatin, do not claim to contain lovastatin, and do not make a claim to lower cholesterol, they are not subject to FDA action. Two reviews confirm that the monacolin content of red yeast rice dietary supplements can vary over a wide range, with some containing negligible monacolins.

Clinical Evidence

The amount typically used in clinical trials is 1200–2400 mg/day of red yeast rice containing approximately 10 mg total monacolins, of which half are monacolin K. This does raise a question about the function of the other monacolins and non-monacolin compounds in the products, as the monacolin K content is lower than what is usually considered effective for lovastatin (20–80 mg/dy). In 2006, Liu et al. published a meta-analysis, of clinical trials. The article cited 93 published, controlled clinical trials (91 published in Chinese). Total cholesterol decreased by 35 mg/dl, LDL-cholesterol by 28 mg/dl, triglycerides by 35 mg/dl, and HDL-cholesterol increased by 6 mg/dl. The incidence of reported adverse effects ranged from 1.3% to 36%. Of the clinical trials reviewed in the meta-analysis, the only study conducted in the United States reported a 22% reduction of LDL-cholesterol after 12 weeks.

Subsequent to the 2006 meta-analysis, there developed a number of articles reporting on a massive trial conducted in China: the China Coronary Secondary Prevention Study (CCSPS). Close to 5,000 post-heart attack patients were enrolled for an average of 4.5 years to receive either a placebo or a RYR product named Xuezhikang (血脂康). This is a patented-process (U.S. patent #6,046,022), ethanol extract of red yeast rice, with a total monacolins content of approx. 0.8%. It is also sold as Lipascor. Key CCSPS results: In the treated group, risk of subsequent heart attacks was reduced by 45%, cardio deaths by 31%, and all-cause deaths by 33%. Some of the articles report on subsets of the population, i.e., just diabetics or just hypertensives.

These heart attack and cardiovascular death outcomes appear to be better than what has been reported for prescription drugs. A 2008 review pointed out that the cardioprotective effects of statins in Japanese populations occur at lower doses than are needed in Western populations, and theorized that the low amount of monacolins found in Xuezhikang may be more effectively athero-protective than expected in the Chinese population in the CCSPS study for the same reason. Others have speculated that phytosterols or unknown substances in Xuezhikang also contribute to the benefits.

Safety

The safety of red yeast rice products has not been established, and some commercial supplements have been found to contain high levels of the toxin citrinin. As commercial products will have highly variable amounts of monacolins, and rarely declare this content on the label, defining risk is difficult. Ingredient suppliers have also been suspected of "spiking" red yeast rice preparations with purified lovastatin. As evidence, one published analysis reported several commercial products as being almost entirely monacolin K - which would occur if the drug lovastatin was added - rather than the expected composition of many monacolin compounds. Statin drugs are known to cause muscle and liver damage. Statin-associated rhabdomyolysis can lead to kidney damage and possibly kidney failure (renal failure). This is why they are prescription drugs rather than over-the-counter, and with recommendations that the patients' physicians schedule liver function tests on a regular basis. There are many case reports in the literature of muscle myopathy and liver damage resulting from red yeast rice usage. In 2009 Becker et al. reported on a U.S. trial that enrolled 62 patients with known statin-associated myalgias. Half got a RYR product (3600 mg/day, 13 mg monacolins, 6 mg monacolin k) for 24 weeks; and half were administered a placebo. In the treated group, LDL-cholesterol declined 21%. Two patients dropped out because of myalgia, 1 for diarrhea, and 1 for dizziness. In the placebo group, one dropped out for myalgia. Creatine phosphokinase increased slightly in the treated group (from 122 to 128 IU/L) versus decreasing with placebo (117 to 101 IU/L), but the shifts were not statistically significant. For those having completed the trial, subjective muscle pain scores were similar for the two groups.

Red yeast is likely unsafe during pregnancy. It has caused birth defects in animals, and there is not enough information about the safety of using red yeast during breast-feeding.

References

1. ^ ^a b Shurtleff, W.; Aoyagi, A. 2012. History of Koji - Grains and/or Beans Overgrown with a Mold Culture (300 BCE to 2012). Lafayette, California: Soyinfo Center. (With 1,560 references and 142 photos and illustrations)
2. ^ "福建"红曲粉"酒被疑含苏丹红 相应酒厂遭查封". 东南快报, 2005-04-14 (in Chinese).
3. ^ http://www.esake.com/Knowledge/Newsletter/JT/JT2001/jt2001_23.html.
4. ^ Erdogrull O, Azirak S. (2004). "Review of the studies on the red yeast rice (Monascus purpureus)". Turkish Electronic J Biotech. 2: 37-49.
5. ^ Endo A (October 2004). "The origin of the statins. 2004". Atheroscler Suppl 5 (3): 125–30. doi:10.1016/j.atherosclerosissup.2004.08.033. PMID 15531285.
6. ^ Edwards JE, Moore RA (December 2003). "Statins in hypercholesterolaemia: a dose-specific meta-analysis of lipid changes in randomised, double blind trials.. BMC Fam Pract 4: 18. doi:10.1186/1471-2296-4-18 PMC 317299 PMID 14969594.
7. ^ Becker DJ, Gordon RY, Morris PB, et al. (July 2008). "Simvastatin vs therapeutic lifestyle changes and supplements: randomized primary prevention trial". Mayo Clin. Proc. 83 (7): 758–64. doi: 10.4065/83.7.758 PMID 18613992.
8. ^ http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/s6455c.pdf.
9. ^ http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/s6456c.pdf.
10. ^ ^a b Li YG, Zhang F, Wang ZT, Hu ZB (September 2004). "Identification and chemical profiling of monacolins in red yeast rice using high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detector and mass spectrometry". J Pharm Biomed Anal 35 (5): 1101–12. doi:10.1016/j.jpba.2004.04.004. PMID 15336357.
11. ^ Heber D, Lembertas A, Lu QY, Bowerman S, Go VL (April 2001). "An analysis of nine proprietary Chinese red yeast rice dietary supplements: implications of variability in chemical profile and contents". J Altern Complement Med 7 (2): 133–9. doi:10.1089/107555301750164181. PMID 11327519.
12. ^ Liu J, Zhang J, Shi Y, Grimsgaard S, Alraek T, Fønnebø V (2006). "Chinese red yeast rice (Monascus purpureus) for primary hyperlipidemia: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials"  Chin Med 1: 4. doi:10.1186/1749-8546-1-4  PMC 1761143 PMID 17302963. 

Further Reading

• Medicine Net. "Red Yeast Rice". Retrieved February 12, 2006.
• Moore, US FDA (May 5, 2001). "Untitled correspondence" (PDF). Retrieved February 12,2006.
• PDRhealth. "Red Yeast Rice". Archived from the original on November 25, 2005. Retrieved February 12, 2006.
• MedlinePlus. "Red yeast rice (Monascus purpureus)". Retrieved March 28, 2006.
• Richard N. Rogoros, M.D. "Non-prescription Cholesterol Lowering". Retrieved August 19, 2006.
• Dennis Lee, M.D. "Red Yeast Rice and Cholesterol - A Critical Review". Retrieved August 19, 2006.
• FDA (August 9, 2007). "FDA Warns Consumers to Avoid Red Yeast Rice Products Promoted on Internet as Treatments for High Cholesterol". Retrieved August 10, 2007.

- Wikipedia