Enhanced Hypolipidemic Effect and Safety of Red Mold Dioscorea Cultured in Deep Ocean Water

Abstract

Red mold dioscorea (RMD) produced by Monascus sp. was proven to be a hypolipidemic functional food. Deep ocean water (DOW), that is, water obtained from over 200 m deep in the ocean, was found to promote the growth of fungus via its mineral richness. On the basis of the advantages, this study used 650 m DOW as the culture water to culture Monascus purpuresus NTU 568 and produce the DOW-RMD. The goal of this study is to compare the difference between DOW-RMD and reverse osmosis water-cultured RMD (ROW-RMD) on the hypolipidemic effect. Hyperlipidemic hamsters were fed a high-cholesterol diet and administered various doses of DOW-RMD or ROW-RMD for 8 weeks. After sacrifice, biochemical analyses in serum, liver, and feces were carried out. The results showed that DOW-RMD had a greater effect on lowering cholesterol levels and lipid peroxidation in serum and lipid plaque in heart aorta than ROW-RMD. However, DOW was likely to modulate the Monascus metabolite biosynthesis pathway toward the formation of hypolipidemic yellow pigments (such as monascin and ankaflavin) rather than red pigments and the mycotoxin citrinin. In addition, the DOW with higher Mg(2+) ion was proven to absorb into DOW-RMD; however, the accumulation of Mg(2+) ions should contribute a greater hypolipidemic effect to DOW-RMD. Comprehensively, the DOW-induced metabolism modulation and the ions of DOW were a benefit to the development of safe DOW-RMD with low citrinin levels and high hypolipidemic, antiatherosclerosis, and anti-fatty liver effects.

The advantages of deep ocean water for the development of functional fermentation food

“…This indicated that the two pure substances of monascin and ankaflavin are hypolipidemic functional compounds and can noticeably reduce lipid peroxidation of the serum, aortic lipid accumulation at the heart, and ratios between LDL-C and HDL-C. Moreover, unlike the positive control group that was fed with monacolin K, the group fed with monascin and ankaflavin did not show a substantial reduction in the blood HDL-C content (Lee et al 2011).…”

“…Regarding to hypolipidemic ability, monascin and ankaflavin can substantially reduce serum lipid peroxidation, aortic lipid accumulation at the heart, and the ratios between LDL and HDL cholesterol. Moreover, Lee et al (2011) reported that, unlike a positive control group fed with monacolin K, experimental groups fed with monascin and ankaflavin did not exhibit marked reductions in blood HDL cholesterol content ). Regarding to antiobesity ability, monascin and ankaflavin suppress the differentiation of 3 T3-L1 preadipocytes in which the expressions of C/EBPα, C/EBPβ, C/EBPδ, and PPARγ are primarily suppressed.…”

“…In recent years, DOW has been increasingly applied in the production of fermented functional foods, and our previous studies have proven them to increase the health functions of functional microbial fermentation products. As shown in Table 2, DOW has demonstrated hypolipidemic (Lee et al 2011) and antiobesity effects (Wang et al 2013b) through the application of RMD and liver cirrhosis prevention effects through the application of Antrodia camphorata-fermented products (Wang et al 2013a). Therefore, these studies were analyzed to assess the feasibility of prospective DOW applications in fermented functional foods.…”

“…First, moisture absorption during fermentation retains the functional ingredients of DOW in RMD, thereby exerting a body fat-lowering effect (Lee et al 2011). A previous study indicated that DOW intake reduces PPAR-γ expression in adipocytes.…”

Development of Monascus fermentation technology for high hypolipidemic effect

“…The concentration of the minerals and trace elements of DOW was analyzed and shown in Table 2 ( Lee et al 2011). In the results, DOW-RMD using DOW as the culture water has greater effect on lowering serum TC, TG, LDL-C levels, and raising HDL-C levels than RMDcultured using reverse osmosis water (ROW-RMD).…”