Yam is the homologous plant of traditional Chinese medicine and food. And Yam Extract is also an important raw material for healthy food. This article reviews the functional components of yam and their hotspot effects. Qyherb provides a reference for the development and utilization of yam functional food and health medicine.
Yam Overview
The medicinal and edible plant yam is the dried rhizome of Dioscorea opposita Thunb. In China, it was used as a medicinal material after the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is mainly distributed in North China, Northwest China and Hunan, Jiangxi and other regions in the Yangtze River Basin. "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" and "Compendium of Materia Medica" are listed as top grade.
Functional Ingredients
Yam is not only rich in nutrients, but also contains a variety of functional active ingredients, such as polysaccharides, saponins, polyphenols, fatty acids, proteins and amino acids, trace elements, etc.
Yam Extract Benefits
1. Immunomodulation
Various functional components in yam can not only improve non-specific immune function, but also enhance specific immune function.
2. Antioxidant
A variety of functional components in yam have antioxidant effects, among which yam polysaccharides have the most antioxidant effects.
3. Anti-aging
Further improving the quality of life of the aging population and delaying aging have become one of the research hotspots of scholars around the world. As a traditional Chinese medicine with the same source of medicine and food, yam is also favored in the exploration of its anti-aging effect.
4. Lower blood sugar
Chinese yam not only showed good hypoglycemic effect on diabetic model animals. It can also reduce the body weight of obese diabetic nephropathy model animals, improve their renal function, and regulate the intestinal microflora in a dose-dependent manner.
5. Lower blood lipids
Both epidemiological and experimental studies have shown that dietary regulation plays an important role in the regulation of cholesterol homeostasis. The ethanolic extract of yam tuber showed a good blood lipid lowering effect.
6. Other functions
Yam also has a variety of special effects to improve the health of the body. Dioscorea saponins from Chinese yam can effectively reduce pancreatic damage, renal function markers and renal case changes in diabetic nephropathy rats.
Summary
Studies have confirmed that yam has various pharmacological activities such as immune regulation, anti-tumor, antioxidant, anti-aging, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, and spleen and stomach regulation. Yam Extract has fully demonstrated its functional properties in various fields such as medicine, health care products and food.
All kinds of functional substances of yam should be fully explored, and the development of downstream functional products of yam should be paid attention to so that it can play its due role in the industries of functional food and health care medicine.