Earticle

Bathing and drinking of Hot spring are known as effective on senile disease and prevention of aging process in old age and widely used in several metabolic disease in all over the world. Recently, the Korean government tried to designate special hot spring as recuperation hot spring to expand spring water usage in medical area. Considering water quality of Korean hot spring, we made practical plan both of institutional recuperation hot spring and drinking of hot spring water. The suggestions should be considered mainly safety and then effect. It is strongly suggested that the control system of drinking water in Korea should be revised in aesthetic regulation especially pH and total dissolved solids (TDS), and continuous joint work in academic field and administrational field.

The purpose of this study was to determine the bath effect of the electrolyzed reduced water(ERW) with the properties of high pH, low oxidation reduction potential (ORP), and antioxidant on the skin injury induced by ultra violet (UV) irradiation. For this purpose, hairless mice were irradiated with UV-B to cause skin injury, and individually taken a bath in electrolyzed reduced water (experimental group) and tap water (control group) twice a day for 15 min during 2 days. We observed scoring of skin injury, hematological analysis and cytokines profile compared to the control group. We found that skin injury of the control group was more quickly recovered than that of the ERW group. In hematological results, the levels of neutrophils and monocytes were increased in control group compared to the normal group, and increased in ERW group than TW group. But, there is no differences in basophil. The level of IFN-r was significantly increased in ERW group than that of the TW group (p<0.05). And the levels of IL-1 , IL-6, IL-10, IL12p70 and TNF- were showed a increasing tendency. But, thesβ α e parameters had no significance between the groups.

Hot spring water located Onsuri Gangwha-gun was evaluated in the aspect of safety and effect. It is confirmed that enable to use as of portable water and ranked high level in Hashimoto's O-index and K-index. Among the 410 hot spring in Korea, only 3 hot spring waters including Onsuri hot spring revealed good tasty water and healthy water. Onsuri hot spring marked 4.72 and 9.3 at O-index and K-index respectively. The remarkable feature of Onsuri hot spring water was zinc concentration of 2.3mg/L. It is the highest level among the safety ensured hot spring in Korea. Zinc is known as one of the important mineral to maintain human health and regulation of several enzymes, and highly effective on liver function. The Onsuri hot spring water has worthy of continuous clinical research according to its component and it would contribute to develop hot spring industry in Korea.

The effect of low concentration electrolyzed water (LcEW) on total microbial count was evaluated on several fresh-cut vegetables. When fresh-cut lettuce (Lactuca sativa), white cabbage (Capitata var. alba L.), and water dropwort (Oenanthe javanica) or minari were treated with LcEW (pH 6.8, 10 ppm available chlorine) by dipping/rinsing, microbes (total bacteria and coliform) on all cuts were reduced by 0.09 to 2.42 log cfu/g. LcEW had a stronger bactericidal effect than 100 ppm NaOCl for fresh-cut lettuce, cabbage, or minari. LcEW did not affect surface color, or general appearance of fresh-cut vegetables

Excessive alcohol consumption is known to cause hangover symptom attributed from several factors including the effects of compounds such as acetaldehyde that was produced as a result of alcohol's metabolism. Alcohol oxidation to acetaldehyde is accompanied by free radical generation that can cause damage to our body. With that, fruits and vegetables known by their antioxidant effects can be a potential treatment for hangover symptoms. The aim of this blind clinical study was to investigate the effectiveness of the powdered extract of fruit and vegetable in relieving the signs and symptoms of alcohol-induced hangovers. 20 healthy individuals were recruited and divided into control group and experimental group. As a result, breath alcohol concentration in the experimental group was significantly reduced in 4 hours (p<0.01). Furthermore, the survey questionnaires revealed fewer symptoms of a hangover in experimental group than in control. Taken together, we suggest that drinking of powdered extract of fruit and vegetable has the relieving potential in reducing severity in symptoms of ethanol-induced hangovers.