Kimchi is a Korean traditional fermented vegetable. It usually served as a side dish. The functional property of kimchi has been studied extensively, in particular with lipid lowering and anthi-atherogenic properties(Reference Kwon, Song and Song1). Seafood is often added to the kimchi to make taste better. In this study, short arm octopus rich in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and amino acid taurine(Reference Im2) is added to the kimchi and it's radical scavenging activity and anti-atherogenic properties were studied in the comparison of ordinary Korean cabbage kimchi.
Short arm octopus added kimchi was fermented at 4C until pH of kimchi reached 4·3 ± 0·1. Ethanol extracts of freeze-dried kimchi were used for the examination of radical scavenging activities, in vitro. For the animal study, pagan's rodent atherogenic diet containing 10 g% of freeze-dried Korean cabbage kimchi (control) or short arm octopus added kimchi (SK) were provided to the apo E KO mice for 8 weeks.
IC50 for DPPH, hydroxyl and superoxide anion of SK were significantly lowered, compared with the control (p < 0·05). Plasma and hepatic triglyceride concentrations for the mice fed SK decreased and their fatty streak lesion size was also significantly reduced (p < 0·05). It seems that n-3 PUFA in short arm octopus present as approximately 60% to the total fatty acids is responsible for TG lowering effects. Triglyceride (TG) lowering effects of n-3 fatty acids are well established(Reference Kim, Takahashi and Ezaki3). Hepatic TG synthesis might be suppressed by n-3 fatty acid which subsequently reduced plasma TG concentration via diminution of very low density of protein (VLDL) synthesis. Plasma total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol concentration of SK group decreased but the differences were not significant.
n = 6 each group. *Data between two group are significantly different with student's t-test at p < 0·05.
In conclusion, in addition of short arm octopus to Korean cabbage kimchi seems to increase health benefits further, in particular, anti-atherogenic effects that has been already reported from Korean cabbage kimchi.
This work is supported by the Korean Institute of Planning & Evaluation for the Technology in Food, Agriculture Forestry & Fisheries (# 311032)