Enzymatic Hydrolyzed Brown Seaweeds (Fucoidan)
Diabetic Glucose Control & Immune Regulation
Fucoidan are a group of mucopolysaccharides isolated from the outer-surface of brown seaweeds. These fucose-containing sulfated polysaccharides (FCSPs, also call Fucoidan) found mainly in brown seaweeds such as Mozuku, Kombu,Limu moui, Bladderwrack, Wakame, and Hijiki. These polysaccharides may also compose of galactose, mannose or xylose containing sulfate ester bond. Many researchers already revealed that fucoidan exhibited immunomodulatory, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and anti-diabetes activities.
Uique enzymatic hydrolysis technique gives wider & balanced molecular wt. distribution with better bioactivities
The bioactivities FCSP may vary depending on the source of seaweed, the compositional and structural traits, distribution, and bonding of the sulfate substitutions. The preservation of the structural integrity of the FCSP molecules essentially depends on the extraction methodology (Tutor Ale et.al., 2011). FCSP are vulnerable to traditional chemical harsh extraction, therefore gentler enzymatic hydrolysis extraction techniques which used shorter extraction times, lower temperatures, and acid levels will ensure extraction of distinct structures for those FCSP. Most commercial Fucoidan products (Fig. 1) contains only large molecular (100~2000 kDa) while Simpson Biotech’s Enzymatic Hydrolyzed Brown Seaweeds (EHBS) has not only the large molecular but also the mid-size (10~100 kDa, same dose, better performance) and small (~500Da, easy-absorbed) polysaccharides for all kind of bioactivities.
Blood glucose control -slowdown starch digestion
In 2012, about 9.3% in the United States have diabetes; most of them are Type 2. Type 2 diabetes is caused by an imbalance between blood sugar absorption and insulin secretion. To control Type 2 diabetes, it is possible to reduce the glucose release from the starches digestion processes by inhibiting the activities of the two major digesting enzymes called α-amylase and α-glucosidase. α-amylase randomly cleaves the starches into oligosaccharides call dextrin or maltose(disaccharides) while α-glucosidase breaks down disaccharides to glucose. The IC50 for α-amylase of EHBS is 6.36 μg/ml which is 8-times and 21-times better than Cebolixs®/Insea2 (a commercial brown seaweed product using Insea2 (polyphenol-rich) as the active ingredient) and Acarbose (an anti-diabetes drug) as showed in Table 1. The blood glucose control ability in 30-kg pigs with starch-based meal which take 150 mg/meal EHBS is even better than that of 500 mg/meal of Cebolixs® and 50mg/meal Acarbose (Figure 2.)
StarchMate® for low GI(glycemic index) food production
StarchMate® is the polyphenol-rich fraction from brown seaweed which can be easily incorporated into current products such as instant rice gruel, flour or oatmeal. StarchMate® efficiently reduced 22~67% GI value of different foods by retarding the digestion of starch. We tested a commercial job’s tear powder by simply mixed with StarchMate® and reduced 45% GI.
StarchMate® reduce food GI by inhibiting a-amylase & a-glucosidase
Improve the reproductive damage in diabetic rat
Oral whole profile fucoidan (WPF) can reduce the fasting blood sugar of high fat diet-Streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. Oxidative stress and inflammation in diabetic rat is harmful to the reproductive system resulting in the reduced sperm mobility and raised sperm abnormality. Oral WPF increased the superoxide dismutase (SOD) in sperm for free radical clearance so that increased the sperm mobility and reduce the abnormal sperm.
Fig. WPF reduce blood glucose.
Fig. WPF increase SOD in sperm.
Fig. WPF increase sperm mobility, reduce sperm abnormality.
Immune regulatory activities
The dried powder of enzymatic hydrolyzed brown seaweed (EHBS) and its polysaccharide fraction (PS-EHBS) activated the innate immune response. Both EHBS and PS-EHBS activated the cytolysis activity of natural killer cell (Figure 3A) and the phagocytosis activity of macrophage (Figure 3B) so that enhanced the resistance of virus or bacterial infection.
Anti-oxidation and anti-inflammation
The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of bacteria induce the oxidation reaction resulted in the production of superoxide in cell during infection. A series of chain reaction induced by superoxide oxidation caused cell damage and accelerated aging. The PS-EHBS reduces the superoxide concentration induced by LPS in mouse macrophage (Figure 4A). PS-EHBS treatment reduced the TNF-α and IL-6 content during LPS induced inflammation in macrophage(Figure 4B, C)
Improvement for osteoarthritis (OA)
The effect of oral WPF for the improvement of osteoarthritis(OA) was evaluated in a surgery-induced OA and high-fat-diet induced model. Oral WPF reduce serum triglyceride(TG), total cholesterol(TC) and low density lipoprotein(LDL) in high-fat-diet rats. WPF increase serum SOD and reduced TNF-a in serum so that reduce the inflammation and oxidative stress in OA/obese rats. WPF reduced the knee swelling of the surgery treated leg suggesting the anti-inflammation WPF improved the recovery of joint. The difference of weight bearing force of hind limb with or without surgery-induced OA was reduced after taking WPF suggesting the pain relief of the joint.
Fig. Reduce serum TG, TC & LDL-cholesterol
