Scientific Data

Research 1

Health effects of vegetarian brown rice meals

Normally, the vegetarian brown rice diet plans at Sunstar’s Kenkodojo doesn’t use animal products. But for this research, I’m adding beef and pork, which are rich in saturated fatty acids and thus would increase the LDL cholesterol level, or more commonly known as the “bad cholesterol”. To counteract this, I’m incorporating white fish and chicken, in addition to the soybeans that are rich in poly-unsaturated acid which will lower the level of bad cholesterol.

I tried to eat 3 meals a day for 2 months straight, and as a result, the average weight decreased by 4 kg as shown on Figure 1, the LDL cholesterol level decreased as can be seen on Figure 2, postprandial blood glucose level (blood glucose level after meal) improved, and also other health benefits appeared.

Research 2

Improve metabolism and preventing periodontal diseases with soybeans and brown rice

For this research, we had a preliminary group of 13 people with metabolic syndrome. This group of people would eat a 480-kcal meal set containing brown rice and some side dishes for dinner, 5 days a week, 6 weeks straight.
As a result, the level of HbA1c, which is an indicator of the average blood sugar levels and diabetes, has improved. Not only that, the depth of periodontal pocket, that is one of the diagnosis used in detecting periodontal diseases, has improved from 4.76 mm to 4.12 mm in just 6 weeks (as shown in Figure 1).

Figure 2 also depicts a participant who had reduced his visceral fat area (body fat stored around important internal organs) by around 40%, from 174 cm2 to 100 cm2, and the abdominal circumference from 98.5 cm to 90 cm after 6 weeks.

Research 3

Amazing power of green vegetables: Increasing good lactic acid bacteria

Both good and bad bacteria in the intestine grows as we eat. As such, we would have to pay attention to the type of food we ate to maintain the balance between these bacteria. Figure 1 and 2 examine how different kind of green vegetables, that is broccoli, cabbage, celery, lettuce, spinach and parsley influence growth of vicious and lactobacillus, which are good lactic acid bacteria.

As a result, it was found that adding green vegetable juice such as broccoli · cabbage increases the number of two good lactobacilli, compared to having no green vegetable/no oligosaccharide.

**Growth-promoting effect of various vegetable juice on bifidobacteria and lactobacillus bacteria. Bifidobacterium longum JCM 1217 bacteria and Lactobacillus acidophilus JCM 1028 bacteria were diluted to 1/4 of normal growth medium for control. Green vegetable juice-free anaerobic cultivation was carried out at 37 ° C. for 24 hours in a medium supplemented with various vegetable juice at 5% or 25% (v/v) to increase the turbidity at the wavelength of 620 nm (ΔOD 620). In addition, a positive control was obtained by adding 5% of lactulose as an oligosaccharide, which is said to have lactic acid bacteria growth promoting effect. The growth of the fungus showed the average value of three experiments.
Source: Biocontrol Science Vol. 13, No. 2, 41 – 48, 2008

Research 4

Broccoli and cabbage lowers LDL

We separated people with high LDL level, or bad cholesterol, into 2 groups. One group drank a glass of vegetable and fruit juice containing at least 20 mg SCMS (natural amino acid), which are mainly obtained from broccoli and cabbage, twice a day. The other half drank a juice that doesn’t contain SCMS, twice a day too.
As a result, the group that regularly drank juice rich in SCMS had decreased their LDL level, as can be seen on the chart below.

Research 5

Effectiveness of vegetable and fruit juice against atopic dermatitis

Vegetables and fruits are known to contain antioxidants that give anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, we tested the effect of juice containing fruits such as apple, lemon, etc. and green vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, and spinach to a group of 23 people with atopic dermatitis, a kind of inflammatory skim disease. These people would drink the juice twice a day for 4 weeks straight.
Five symptoms such as erythema and itching were investigated at the time of examination. During the study, these five symptoms were observed to see if there’s any improvement. As a result, an improvement started to appear on the second week, and after 4 weeks, at least 82.5% showed some improvement or even remarkable effects.