March 17, 2014

BIOBANK CO.,LTD. (Okayama, Japan) and instructor Tomohiro Ito Ph.D. from the Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture at Kinki University (Nara, Japan) have conducted a collaborative research and discovered the fact that the fermented vegetable extract (product name: OM-X^®) is helpful to suppress type I allergy through experiments with cells and animals. 

According to the findings of the survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in 2011, about one in two Japanese has some sort of allergies. Allergies are categorized from types I to V depending on differences in the mechanism of action. Type I allergy is referred to as immediate-type allergy and its typical symptoms include hay fever, atopic dermatitis and bronchial asthma. There are many ongoing studies regarding the relief of symptoms related to type I allergy. Some studies suggested that natural botanical ingredients like polyphenols that are extracted from seaweeds and teas, including phlorotannin and catechin, are helpful to symptomatic relief allergies.

BIOBANK CO.,LTD. develops, manufactures and sales dietary supplements, skin care products and a soil amendment for agricultural use based on the fermented vegetable extract OM-X^® that is a combination of vegetables, fruits and seaweeds fermented with probiotic strains. We focused on its functionality for human consumption and conducted the collaborative research with instructor Tomohiro Ito Ph.D. from Kinki University. This study showed the fact that OM-X^® is helpful to suppress type I allergies. OM-X^® includes antioxidative components like melanoidin and polyphenols. It has inhibited degranulation of rat basophilic leukemia cells (RBL-2H) which are a model of phenomenon of type I allergy and suppressed the inflammation resulting from type I allergy based on the experiment on passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) reaction using model mice. The current result encourages us to expect OM-X^® to be a helpful food/material for symptomatic relief of type I allergies.

BIOBANK CO.,LTD. has signed up with Risako Miura, a model and TV personality, for our marketing activities. She will be the face of the fermented vegetable extract OM-X, our main product.

OM-X won the ‘Best of Supplements’ award in the United States for the fifth year in a row. It is very popular among people from around the world who are earnest to achieve health and longevity.

Risako Miura is a charismatic model and popular among women in their 40s who are　pressed with work, household tasks and parental care. She also balances her job and household responsibilities with attention to her health and beauty. Many women are attracted to her living. Selecting her for being the face of OM-X allows our product, which aims to enhance people’s health with inner care of the body, to share her charisma. This combination of images will be able to raise product awareness in domestic market and we pursue further contribution to people to have a healthy and active life.

<Risako Miura Profiles>

Birtheday: January 13, 1968

Background:

Born in New York, USA. Grew up in Fujisawa-city, Kanagawa, Japan.

She started her modeling career as an exclusive model for the fashion magazine ‘JJ’ when she was still at university. She now appears in the fashion magazine ‘VERY’ and ‘STORY’.

Also, appears in TV programs, TV commercials and other magazines.