Boost Your Immunity Series Vol. 1: It's simple! Boost your immunity with Japanese & Korean food

Hello!

My name is Ryuu. I am the PR department manager for Suzuki Herb Laboratory.

The coronavirus has had a considerable impact on our lives. Every day, we watch the news hoping that things will go back to normal as soon as possible.

A little while back, my friend from overseas was in admiration over some news he saw about Japan.

"It's really amazing how the government just requested that everybody limit their outings, and so many people cooperated! In Japan, even when affected by a disaster, everyone is polite and acts considerately of others. I would be kindhearted if I could live in a country like that," he envied.

I had a realization. When going about our daily routines, the foundation of it is guaranteeing the safety of our lives. After that, we can fulfill our needs for clothing, food, and shelter. From there, our desires and dreams only multiply. We can savor happiness and fun. We can have lives filled with joy.

I once again felt the importance of everyone following the rules, showing consideration to people around, and keeping safety in mind while carrying out daily activities.

What can we do to counter the virus at this moment?

During this time, the simple way of explaining the coronavirus strategy is "Do what you can for your own sake." (Another take on it is "Do what you can for everyone's sake.")

Nowadays, the thing you can do for your own sake is... enhance your immune system! Not only can improving your immunity combat the coronavirus, but it will also help counter allergies and the common cold.

What do you think of when you hear "immunity enhancement"?

Perhaps it is "good food," "sleeping and waking up early," "healthy lifestyle," "gut ecosystem," "recovering by yourself," etc.

Any of these could be correct, but you might be unsure about what to do. Today, I want to share with you one way of improving your immunity with food products.

Boost Your Immunity with Fermented Food: "Black Vinegar Natto Kimchi"! 

To make this, you just combine natto, kimchi, and black vinegar. You can eat it as is or with rice.

However, if you can't process the bacteria in natto, adding it to hot rice will kill the bacteria. Since the temperature needs to reach 70 degrees for the bacteria to die, it's recommended to let it cool down before eating.

Black vinegar, natto, and kimchi are fermented foods. Fermented foods consist of microbes called probiotics, which provide benefits to the human body.

Probiotics, such as lactobacillus and bifidobacteria, are good bacteria which regulate the intestinal environment. When they reach the gut, these bacteria improve constipation and restore the gut’s ecosystem. Waste is excreted from the body and intestinal functions are brought back to normal, which is linked to improved immunity.

There are 30,000 species of 100~1,000 trillion living intestinal bacteria inside the human gut. To start off, give fermented food a try.

Natto moisturizer?! "Natto Lotion"

Our research laboratory boasts a skincare collection called the "Natto series".

In this post, I will introduce one of the items -- "Natto lotion".

It is a face lotion containing superior moisturizing properties using polyglutamic acid, a moisturizing component of natto. It also doesn’t have the particular odor and stickiness of natto.

Polyglutamic acid causes the sticky texture of natto. It has more than twice the moisturizing effect of the well-known moisturizing ingredient hyaluronic acid. The molecules are very fine and they can reach under the surface skin layer* to provide plenty of moisture. 

*Up to the stratum corneum

In today's post, I hope you have learned a thing or two about boosting your immune system with fermented foods.。

Thank you for reading.