Anti-allergic Effects of Extracts from Commercial Products of Cooked Burdock

The anti-allergic effects of commercial products from cooked burdock (burdock salad, fried up burdock and burdock boiled with vinegar) were investigated by analyzing their inhibitory effects on the enzymatic activity (cyclooxygenase-2, lipoxygenase, phospholipase A(2) and hyaluronidase) and the suppression of degranulation from rat basophilic leukemia (RBL)-2H3 cells. The methanol extract of burdock boiled with vinegar did not inhibit the cyclooxygenase-2 activity in the experiments. Those of the burdock salad and fried up burdock exhibited inhibitory activities in all the experiments. The burdock salad extract strongly inhibited lipoxygenase, phospholipase A(2) and hyaluronidase. Thus, commercial cooked burdock, in addition to raw burdock, has bioactivities corresponding to an anti-allergic effect.