The effects of sweet potato-shochu distillery by-product on growth of Bifidobacterium in milk were examined to consider its potential use as a food ingredient. Addition of sweet potato-shochu distillery wastewater to 10% skimmed milk powder medium enhanced organic acid production and the numbers of Bifidobacterium lactis BB-12, while increasing its concentration. The low molecular fraction (< 1 kDa) from sweet potato-shochu distillery wastewater had a growth-stimulating effect on Bifidobacterium. The low molecular fraction was separated by gel permeation chromatography to yield the O-1 fraction, whose main component was oligosaccharides consisting of glucose, galactose and uronic acids, and the P-1 fraction whose main component was heterogeneous peptides. A combination of the O-1 and P-1 fractions significantly stimulated growth of Bifidobacterium, although the individual fractions had no effect on Bifidobacterium growth. Of the 10 Bifidobacterium species tested, the sweet potato-shochu distillation wastewater stimulated the growth of Bifidobacterium lactis BB12, Bifidobacterium longum B66, Bifidobacterum infantis JCM 1210 and Bifidobacterum adolesentis JCM 1275. The present results indicate that sweet potato-shochu distillery wastewater can be used as an enhancer of fermentation by Bifidobacterium.Keywords: sweet potato-shochu distillery by-product, Bifidobacterium, growth-stimulating effect, oligosaccharide, peptide *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: t-nakano@dairy-milk.co.jp IntroductionShochu is a type of alcohol spirit mainly produced in the south of Japan. The volume of shochu produced from sweet potato is increasing, as are its by-products, and disposal of these by-products is a serious environmental problem. Although sweet potato-shochu distillery by-products were previously disposed of in the sea, in recent years, large amounts have been dried and used as fodder (Mahfudz et al., 1996(Mahfudz et al., , 1997Ohtsuka et al., 1998). Sweet potato-shochu distillery wastewater contains numerous components originating from its raw materials, rice malt and yeast (Wu and Bagby, 1987), and is rich in nutrients, including oligosaccharides, peptides, dietary fiber and vitamins. In addition to their high nutritional value, these components have additional physiological properties (Cummings et al., 2001;Mitterdorfer et al., 2001), because of the presence of rice malt and yeast fermentation. Many researchers have reported effects such as inhibition of hypertension (Morimura et al., 2002;Nakamura et al., 2003), anti-cancer action (Omori and Hokazono, 2003), antitumor action (Hirose et al., 2002;Matsumoto et al., 2005;Tsuchiya et al., 2006), antioxidation (Xiu et al., 2004Yoshimoto et al., 2004), and anti-allergic immunomodulating effects (Iguchi et al., 2007). Attempts have therefore been made to use sweet potato-shochu distillery wastewater as a food ingredient; however, few food applications have been successful due to its odor. In considering the application of sweet potato-shochu by-products to the ...

We obtained anti-allergic oligosaccharides from a sweet potato-shochu distillery by-product (SDB).Oral administration of oligosaccharides A and B in SDB to ovalbumin/aluminum-sensitized mice for 4 weeks resulted in a significant decrease in serum IgE concentration. The release of β-hexosaminidase from rat basophilic leukemia cell line RBL-2H3 was also suppressed by the addition of oligosaccharides A and B to the cell culture. The molecular weights of oligosaccharides A and B were about 730 and 530, respectively, determined from the retention time on Bio-Gel P-2. Oligosaccharide A was composed of galactose, glucose and uronic acid in a molar ratio of 2:1:1. Oligosaccharide B was composed of galactose, glucose and arabinose (1:1:1 molar ratio) or galactose, glucose and uronic acid (1:1:1 molar ratio), showing that oligosaccharide B is a heterogeneous mixture of other oligosaccharides. Oligosaccharides A and B exhibited growth-stimulating activity with Bifidobacterium lactis BB-12. The present results indicate that the oligosaccharides in SDB are promising ingredients for the effective control of allergic diseases via suppression of IgE production and inhibition of basophilic leukemia cells degranulation.Keywords: anti-allergy, shochu by-product, oligosaccharide, suppression of IgE production, suppression of β-hexosaminidase release, Bifidobacterium growth stimulation *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: t.yonemoto@satsuma.co.jp IntroductionShochu is a traditional alcohol spirit in the south of Japan. After alcoholic fermentation of sweet potato with rice Koji and yeast, the alcohol and other volatile components were distilled. Sweet potato-shochu distillery by-product (SDB) contains numerous components originating from its raw materials, rice malt and yeast, and is rich in nutrients, including oligosaccharides, peptides, dietary fiber, polyphenols and vitamins. There are many reports on the functions of SDB,

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Previous studies 1） reported that a new beverage made from the distilled residue of sweetpotato shochu by the addition of rice-koji. This beverage contained rich bioactive components, such as polyphenol compounds. Its animal ingestion tests confirmed its beneficial effects on the lipid metabolism and blood sugar levels.In this report, we examined the effect of this new beverage on its biological defense ability, using mice. Results showed that a mouse tumor inoculated intraperitoneally with sarcoma-180 was suppressed significantly in size by ingestion of the beverage. The beverage also showed a growth suppressive activity against cancer cells. At the same time, the activity of natural killer cells in the mouse spleen was observed to be stronger（significance level of 0.1%） than that in the control mice spleens. Therefore, the ingestion showed an ability to suppress the growth of mouse tumors through anti-oxidative and/or biological defense abilities of bioactive compounds such as polyphenols in the beverage.