32 - Biological Effects of the Fermentation Product of Carica papaya (Bio-Normalizer)

Abstract

Despite accumulating data on the beneficial effects of bionormalizer (BN), the biological mechanisms responsible for the therapeutic activity of BN are not well understood. This chapter evaluates its activity under various conditions to gain further insights into the biological mechanisms of BN action and new possibilities for therapeutic applications. BN is a functional health-food supplement sold in Japan, the United States, and in other countries. This product is made from Carica papaya Linn. and other plants by yeast fermentation under strict quality control. Although ingredients of the product are still unknown in detail, carbohydrate (90%), protein, amino acids, and vitamins have been detected as main substances by chemical analysis. BN has been proposed as a free-radical modulating agent. In biological studies, BN has been found to scavenge hydroxyl radicals in vitro, and in animal studies, it has been reported to protect the rat brain against oxidative damage caused by aging, iron treatment, or ischemia-reperfusion. From such reports, it has been proposed that beneficial effects of BN might be due to its free radical scavenging properties. However, it has also been reported to upregulate phorbol ester-induced and zymosan-induced superoxide production in rat-peritoneal macrophages, natural killer-cell activity, and the level of interferon. Such evidence suggests that BN also possesses the ability to modulate immune effector cells in addition to its direct free-radical scavenging activity.