Ingredients, Functionality, and Safety of the Japanese Traditional Sweet Drink .

The sweet drink is a fermented food made from and related molds in Japan. There are two types of drinks called , one made from () and the other made from lees, a by-product of (). The sweetness of is from glucose, derived from starch broken down by . amylase. The other, , depends on added sugar. The main components are glucose and sucrose, but they also contain more than 300 other ingredients. contains oligosaccharides and ergothioneine, and has a resistant protein and α-ethyl glucoside, which are characteristic ingredients of each . However, there are also common ingredients such as glycosylceramide. Functionality is known to include anti-fatigue, bowel movement, skin barrier, and other effects on human health. In particular, the bowel movement-improving effects have been well studied for both . These functions result from ingesting approximately 100 mL per day, but human clinical trials have clarified that this amount has no effect on blood glucose levels and weight gain. In the future, the identification of substances associated with each function is required.