migrated from the United States to Aomori Prefecture in the early Meiji period because of soil remains that covered the roots of apple trees. Apios is now grown across Japan. From July to September, the shoots of the apios bloom are pale purple, and are used for ornamental purposes. The rhizomes of apios grow more than 1 m, and the nodes of the rhizome are 5 to 10 cm in length and grow into oval tuberous roots. The size of a tuberous root is 3 6 cm in length at the major axis, 1 to 4 cm in length at the minor axis and weighs ~10 g (fresh weight). The tuberous roots are steamed, deep fried and fried, and taste slightly sweet like potatoes, taros and chestnuts. They are soft and smooth in texture. The tuberous roots of apios are highly nutritious when compared to the nutritional value of potatoes, sweet potatoes and taros. In particular, they are rich in protein, carbohydrate, dietary fi ber, calcium and iron. Therefore, they are increasing in popularity because of their high nutritional value. There is evidence that apios tuberous roots may function as cures for atopic conditions, resolution of chronic constipation, nutritional fortifi cation, treatment of adiposeness and diabetes, and hypertension. 1) Hoshikawa et al. have reported a study on the tuberization, growth and yield capacity 2 4) of the apios tuberous roots. With respect to the components found in these roots, studies have characterized the general components, 5) carbohydrate components, 1) physiological effects in the suppression of blood pressure and in improving plasma lipid levels. 6) Furthermore, studies have examined the dietary fi bers 7) and soluble carbohy
We investigated the use of a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with o-phthalaldehyde fluorescence detection to simultaneously quantify g-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamate and alanine. Using this method, the column (COSMOSIL /C+2-MS-II, ..0 mm i.d.ῌ+/ cm) was eluted using a linear gradient of acetonitrile and / mM citrate bu#er (pH 0.*). The GABA contents of both milled and cooked rice samples were measured, with a gradual decrease observed as the rice was milled in raw rice. However, GABA content was markedly diminished due to washing in rice milled for a longer period. In less milled rice, the GABA and glutamate contents increased when the rice was cooked without washing. As a result, the GABA content of cooked under-milled rice was twice that of cooked well-milled rice available in the market, and three times greater for under-milled cooked rice without washing. These findings revealed that partially milled rice could be utilized as a daily source of GABA.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.