JP2007186483A - Food product for treatment of menopausal symptom - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a drug or a food or beverage product containing a specific combination of plant extracts, which is effective for prevention or amelioration of menopause or amelioration of skin aging. <P>SOLUTION: It has been found that compounding of a compound of Pueraria mirifica or an extract thereof and soy isoflavone is effective for prevention or amelioration of menopause or amelioration of skin aging. The invention provides a drug or a food, beverage product for prevention or treatment of menopause or treatment of skin aging, containing Pueraria mirifica or an extract thereof and soy isoflavone or an extract containing a glycoside thereof. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an improving agent or a food or drink useful for preventing or improving menopausal symptoms or improving skin aging, which contains a specific combination of plant extracts. More specifically, the present invention is an improvement useful for preventing or improving menopause, or improving skin aging, comprising a plant extract containing Pueraria mirifica or an extract thereof and soybean isoflavone or a glycoside thereof. The agent or food and drink.

Pueraria Mirifica is a leguminous plant that mainly grows in Thailand. It was brought to Western Europe in the 1930s and has been used as a Thai folklore with a tonic effect (Nature, December 3, 1960, 774). . It is listed as a leguminous genus Kudzu plant in a Thai medicine book that succeeds Indian Ayurveda, and it is said that the root mass was crushed about 280 years ago and hardened with honey. In particular, the tubers have long been used as a tonic for women after menopause. Furthermore, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-131500, it is reported that breast tension and increased moisture on the facial epidermis were observed when four types of medicinal herbs, Boesenbergia pandurata, Eugenia cariophyllus, and glycyrriza lagragra were used in combination. Has been.
In addition, there were those that added a small amount to a nourishing tonic, added to an irritation reducer intended to reduce irritation to the skin, etc., added to an anti-aging agent mainly composed of isoflavone, etc. .
JP 2000-316526 JP 2001-181170 JP 2001-220340 JP 2001-348334 JP 2003-155246 JP 2004-115521 JP 2004-131500

Phytoestrogens can be classified into subgroups such as cumestrol, genistein, formonetin, daidzein, biocanin A, etc., and most of them consist of isoflavone compounds. It is known that phytoestrogens have antioxidant activity and have an action to prevent or ameliorate osteoporosis (Tsutsumi N., Biol Pharm Bull, 18 (7), 1012-1015 (1995)). Pueraria Mirifica has been found to contain much more phytoestrogens than other legumes.

Isoflavones are distributed in various plants, and are particularly found in leguminous plants such as soybean, purple clover, arrowroot, alfalfa, asteraceae and iridaceae. Isoflavones are also called phytoestrogens because they are weak not only because these compounds have a similar structure to endogenous estrogens but also by binding to estrogen receptors. This is because the same effect as estrogen (Maritin PM et al., Endocrinology, 103, 1860-1867 (1978)) is brought about. The estrogen receptor is distributed in organs and tissues throughout the body (Kenneth DR et al., J Nutr., 129, 758S-767S (1999)), mammary gland, uterus, ovary, testis, kidney, adrenal gland. Two types are known, α-type receptors expressed in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, and β-type receptors frequently found in skin, bone, brain, blood vessels, lungs, prostate, and bladder (Toshio Kubota, Hormone Frontier in Gynecology, 7, 31-38 (2000)).
Isoflavone is also contained in soybean, and the binding ability of soybean isoflavone is weak to α-type receptor and strong to β-type receptor (Kuiper GGJM et al., Endocrinology, 139, 4252). 4263 (1998)), climacteric disorder, osteoporosis, arteriosclerosis, Alzheimer, prostatic hypertrophy, cancer (White. RWV et al., Urology, 63, 259-263 (2004), Ozasa K., et al. et al., Cancer Sci., 95, 65-71 (2004)) and the like are expected. (Kurzer MS, J. Nutr., 133, 1983S-1986S (2003)). Phytoestrogens can be classified into subgroups such as cumestrol, genistein, formonetin, daidzein, biocanin A, etc., and the specific compounds of soybean isoflavones, most of which consist of isoflavone compounds, include daidzin, Glycitin, genistin, daidzein, glycitein, genistein, 6'-0-acetyldaidine, 6'-0-malonyldidine, 6'-0-acetylglycitin, 6'-0-malonylglycitin, 6'-0-acetyl Genistin, 6′-0-malonylgenistin and the like are known.

Soy isoflavones are generally said to have better absorption and bioactivity of aglycone absorbed as is than glycosides that need to be broken down by intestinal bacteria before being absorbed from the intestinal tract. Yes. (Izumi T et al., J. Nutr., 139, 1695-1699 (2000)) Especially for the aglycon type, the effects of improving symptoms specific to menopause such as hot flashes and hot flashes (Kiuchi Chiaki et al., FOOD Style 21, 9, (2004) )), Osteoporosis prevention, arteriosclerosis prevention, blood flow improvement effect is clear. (Yoshirou Kubota et al., Prog. Med., 24, 1487-1494) 2004))

Soy isoflavone does not act on mammary gland, uterus and the like unlike estrogen and endocrine disrupting substances (Makela S. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 96, 7077-7082 (1999), Tansey G). Et al., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med., 217, 340-344 (1998)), rather, anti-estrogenic action (suppressing the action of estrogen) is expected to prevent breast cancer and uterine cancer. Yes. (Yamamoto S. et al., J. Natl. Cancer Inst., 95, 906-913 (2003), Maroulis GB, Ann NY Acad. Sci., 900, 413-415 (2000), Fourier D.). B., et al., Cancer Epid.Bio.Prev., 7, 1055-1065 (1998), Horn-Ross PL, et al, J. Natl. Cancer Inst., 95, 1158-1164 (2003). ))
Although many research results have been published, the exact therapeutic mechanism and therapeutic effects associated with phytoestrogens have not yet been fully elucidated.
Japanese Patent Application No. 3510526 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-170756 Japanese Patent Application No. 9-36905 Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-3487 Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-137047

The present inventor is more effective in preventing or improving menopause or improving skin aging than using Pueraria Mirifica alone or soy isoflavone alone by using Pueraria Mirifica or its extract and soy isoflavone alone. It was mainly tested that.

  The present inventor has found that it is useful for prevention or improvement of menopause, or improvement of skin aging, and various uses in the medical industry and food industry by using Pueraria Mirifica or its extract and soy isoflavone in combination. As a result of intensive studies, the present invention has been completed.

  An object of the present invention is to provide foods, health foods, beverages and the like containing Pueraria mirifica or its extract and soybean isoflavone as active ingredients.

In order to achieve the above object, Pueraria Mirifica or its extract is adjusted as follows.
Pueraria Mirifica tubers, roots, stems, leaves and / or tissue-cultivated calli can be used as they are, or dried and ground into small pieces or powders, or used as they are, or in water, ethanol or a mixed solvent thereof. The extract containing the medicinal component can be obtained from Pueraria Mirifica by dipping and subjecting the resulting extract to spray drying, freeze drying and / or vacuum drying as necessary.
The extract is used as a single substance or contains diluents, additives, colorants, antioxidants and / or other additives suitable for use in foods, beverages, pharmaceuticals To do.

Soy isoflavones can be extracted with water, ethanol, etc. from "boiled soup", "whey", etc. produced in the process of manufacturing whole soybeans, defatted soybeans or tofu, miso, natto, soy sauce, soy sauce cake, isolated soybean protein, etc. It is characterized in that it is an extract containing isoflavone, which is converted into aglycone by digesting it with an enzyme (such as β-glucosidase) or a microorganism containing such an enzyme. In this case, the isoflavone or glycoside thereof contained is selected from the group consisting of daidzein, genistein, glycitein, soybean-in, genistin, and glycitin.

  In order to achieve the object of the present invention, it is essential that both Pueraria mirifica or its extract and isoflavone obtained from soybean are contained as active ingredients. In addition to the powder, dry extract, extract and / or active ingredient contained in both, if necessary, it is mixed with excipients as appropriate, and shaped into tablets, hard capsules, soft capsules, granules, etc. Functional foods, health foods, dietary supplements, foods for specified health use, bread and cereals. It will be in the form of general foods such as candies, gums and beverages, and health-oriented foods. Furthermore, food components and additives such as herbs and vitamins useful for improving hormone balance or improving skin aging may be contained.

Problems to be solved by the invention

  The object of the present invention is to provide an improving agent or food or drink useful for preventing or improving menopause or improving skin aging, which contains a specific combination of plant extracts.

Means for solving the problem

  As a result of intensive studies to solve the above problems, the present inventors have found that a combination of Pueraria mirifica or its extract and soy isoflavone can prevent or improve menopause or improve skin aging. It was found useful and the present invention was completed.

That is, the present invention is an invention having the following contents.
An agent for preventing or improving menopause, or for improving skin aging, or a food or drink, comprising an extract containing Pueraria mirifica or an extract thereof and soybean isoflavone or a glycoside thereof.

The invention's effect

  EXAMPLES Next, although an Example is given and this invention is demonstrated, this invention is not limited by these Examples.

  Using the soybean seed extract (soybean isoflavone) and the Pueraria mirifica extract obtained by the method described below as a plant extract, a formulation having the composition shown in Table 1 (present invention group, comparative group 1 to 3) was prepared.

<Creation of plant extract>
(1) Pueraria Mirifica extract:
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the tuber of Pueraria mirifica is dried and pulverized into a powder, and 10 kg of distilled water is added to 1 kg of the powder, and the extract is freeze-dried for use.

(2) Soybean seed extract:
Soy isoflavone is 10 kg of whole soybeans, crushed 10% of 90% ethanol and extracted at room temperature for 1 day, filtered, and after removing ethanol from the filtrate, it is degraded with enzyme (β-glucosidase) to aglycone. Convert and use lyophilized.

Skin aging improvement effect:
Twenty-four females in their 40s and 50s as test subjects were divided into four groups, and each took the preparations of Invention Group 1 and Comparative Group 1-3 daily. Skin ingestion and wrinkles were determined according to the following criteria as an index of skin aging after ingestion for 2 weeks.

(Criteria for skin aging improvement effect)
Effective: Skin elasticity improved. Wrinkle reduction is observed.
Slightly effective: The skin tone was slightly improved. A decreasing tendency of shallow wrinkles is observed.
Ineffective: There is no improvement in skin elasticity. There is no tendency to reduce wrinkles. Or an increase in wrinkles is observed.
The above evaluation results are shown in Table 2. As shown in the table, the highest skin improvement effect was observed when the soybean extract and Pueraria Mirifica were used in combination. In many cases, the use of the combination improved the texture of the skin and improved the glue of the makeup.

Reduction of climacteric symptoms:
Twenty women in their 40s and 50s who had hot flashes, hot flashes, and irritations as menopausal symptoms as subjects were divided into four groups, and the preparations of Invention Group 1 and Comparative Group 1-3 were ingested daily. The condition of physical condition improvement was determined according to the following criteria based on the following questions after ingestion for 2 weeks.
(Criteria for skin aging improvement effect)
Effective: Hot flashes, hot flashes and irritability improved and physical condition improved slightly. Effective: Hot flashes, hot flashes, irritated slightly improved physical condition improved. Invalid: Hot flashes, hot flashes and irritated were not improved. Show. As shown in the table, the highest effect of improving menopausal symptoms was observed when soy extract and Pueraria mirifica were used in combination. In particular, many patients felt relief from hot flashes.

  The improvement agent and food and drink useful for prevention of menopause or improvement of symptoms, improvement of female hormone balance, and skin aging improver of the present invention are also effective in preventing lifestyle-related diseases, and are used as a wide range of food and drink. can do.

Claims (4)

A preventive / ameliorating agent comprising pueraria mirifica and soy isoflavone as active ingredients for preventing or improving climacteric disorder or improving skin aging. The prevention-improving agent according to claim 1, comprising 1 to 70% by mass of Pueraria mirifica and 1 to 70% by mass of soybean isoflavone. The preventive / ameliorating agent according to claim 2, wherein Pueraria mirifica is an extract of pueraria mirifica, or the isoflavone in the soybean extract is an aglycon type. A food and drink comprising pueraria mirifica and soy isoflavone as active ingredients for preventing or improving menopause, improving female hormone balance, or improving skin aging.