Yacon Tabs	Yacon Tea	Pasuchaca

*The above products are 100% natural and organic
++ Yacon syrup available on special request . min order 6 bottles:

Yacon — the root of a tall, leafy plant with tiny yellow sunflowers that Inca “chasquis,” or messengers, pulled from the pathside to slake their thirst is thought to have originated in a Andean region of Peru.

The root contains 86-90% water and only traces of protein and lipids. It is high in oligofructose (also called fructo-oligosaccharide), a dietary sugar, which the human body does not metabolize, hence its potential use for diabetics and in body weight control. Moreover, increased intake of oligofructose has been associated with improved gut health because of the stimulation of (beneficial) bifidus bacteria in the colon.
Uses. Yacón can be eaten raw, just like a fruit. Once the roots have been dried in the sun, they become sweeter. In Cusco, Peru, during the Inti Raymi festivities in June, yacón is traditionally sold under the name of "cocashka."

Varieties. This root has little variability. It mainly has white or yellowish transparent flesh. Peru has the greatest number of varieties, and is the world’s biggest producer with an estimated 1,480 acres under cultivation.

Yacon is the ideal product for diabetics. The fructose in in the Yacon root consist of 35% free and 25% bonded fructose. Thus carbohydrates can be supplied even when the concentration of blood sugar is low. That prevents diabetics from hyperglycaemia (over-activity).

The "Yacon" is naturally low-calorie — a jar of yacon syrup contains half the calories as a same-sized jar of honey — and its sugar does not raise blood glucose levels.In addition, oligofructose promotes beneficial bacteria in the colon (prebiotics). Certain modern health products, such as so-called bio-yogurts, have oligofructose added to achieve the same effect, but yacon already has that quality naturally.“It’s a diet food and a diabetic food,” said yacon expert Michael Hermann, Research Project leader of the Andean roots and tubers

The effects :

The yacon’s oligofructose properties were discovered. by ancient peruvians but the modern medicine found out that if the leaves are used in tea, it has the effect of avoiding the peaks that you have when eating sugary or starchy food, when your blood sugar level goes up violently, one of the biggest problems of a diabetics person. who have high blood sugar levels and whose bodies do not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone that would normally be released to process food.

It appears that the tea lessens the (sugary) peaks.

Benefits:

Research has proven that is beneficial for those with hypertension. By thinning the blood Yacon can lower blood pressure by 5 to 10 percent. It can also lower cholesterol and discourage clot formation. Unfortunately, Yacon has a reputation for being a Diabetes but it is also excellent to reduce the hypertension problems..

Dr. H. Brams said yacon roots themselves had not been proven to have the same palliative effect as the Yacon leaves. Even so, yacon is now popularly associated in Peru with diabetes, though other benefits such as its laxative quality and ability to help prevent colon cancer and osteoporosis are less well known.

Contents:

Several carbohydrates: fructose, glucose, sucrose, low polymerization degree (DP) oligosaccharides (DP 3 to 10 fructans), and traces of starch and inulin (Asami et al. 1989; Ohyama et al. 1990). Oligofructans with a lower DP (average 4.3) may account for up to 67% of the dry matter content at harvest (Asami et al. 1991). Oligosaccharides purified from yacon have been identified as beta-(2 1)-fructooligosaccharides with terminal sucrose (inulin type oligofructans; Goto et al. 1995).

The root contains 86-90% water and only traces of protein and lipids. It is high in oligofructose (also called fructo-oligosaccharide), a dietary sugar, which the human body does not metabolize, hence its potential use for diabetics and in body weight control. Moreover, increased intake of oligofructose has been associated with improved gut health because of the stimulation of (beneficial) bifidus bacteria in the colon.

A jar of yacon syrup contains half the calories as a same-sized jar of honey and its sugar does not raise blood glucose levels. In addition, oligofructose promotes beneficial bacteria in the colon.

Certain modern health products, such as so-called bio-yogurts, have oligofructose added to achieve the same effect, but yacon already has that quality naturally.It’s a diet food and a diabetic food, said yacon expert Joel Kirsh,Research leader of the Andean roots and tubers project at the Potato Research Center.

showed potent free radical-scavenging activity and inhibitory effects on lipid peroxidation in rat brain homogenate. The most potent antioxidative activity focused on the 50% MeOH-eluted fraction on DIAION HP-20 column chromatography. The structure of the major component in the fraction was identified as 2,3,5-tricaffeoylaltraric acid (TCAA). The antioxidative activity of TCAA is superior to that of natural antioxidants such as (+/-)-catechin, alpha-tocopherol, and ellagic acid,. As the hypoglycemic activity of Yacon extract was described in a previous report, the present results showing that the aerial part of Yacon has strong antioxidative activity may encourage its potential use as a food supplement to prevent type II diabetes.

Research :

Radical scavenging and anti-lipoperoxidative activities of Smallanthus sonchifolius - yacon - leaf extracts.

J Agric Food Chem. 2005 Jul 13;53(14):5577-82.
Radical scavenging and anti-lipoperoxidative effects of two organic fractions and two aqueous extracts from the leaves of a neglected Andean crop- yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius Poepp. & Endl., Asteraceae) were determined using various in vitro models. The extracts' total phenolic content was 10.7-24.6%. These results make yacon leaves a good candidate for use as a food supplement in the prevention of chronic diseases involving oxidative stress.

Subchronic 4-month oral toxicity study of dried Smallanthus sonchifolius (yacon) roots as a diet supplement in rats.

Food Chem Toxicol. 2005 Nov;43(11):1657-65.

The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of subchronic (4-months) oral consumption of dried yacon root flour as a diet supplement using normal Wistar rats. Two daily yacon intake levels were used, equivalent to 340 mg and 6800 mgFOS/body weight, respectively. Yacon administered as a diet supplement was well tolerated and did not produce any negative response, toxicity or adverse nutritional effect at both intake levels used. Yacon root consumption showed no hypoglycemic activity in normal rats and resulted in significantly reduced post-prandial serum triacylglycerol levels in both doses assayed. Conversely, serum cholesterol reduction was not statistically significant. Cecal hypertrophy was observed in rats fed only the high dose. Our results indicating lack of yacon toxicity and a certain beneficial metabolic activity in normal rats warrant further experiments with normal subjects and patients suffering metabolic disorders.

The effect of Smallanthus sonchifolius ( yacon ) leaf extracts on rat hepatic metabolism.Cell Biol Toxicol. 2004 Mar;20(2):109-20.
Smallanthus sonchifolius ( yacon ), originating from South America, has become popular in Japan and in New Zealand for its tubers which contain beta-1,2-oligofructans as the main saccharides.

The yacon plant is also successfully cultivated in Central Europe in the Czech Republic in particular. Its aerial part is used in Japan and in Brazil as a component in medicinal teas; while aqueous leaf extracts have been studied for their hypoglycemic activity in normal and diabetic rats. We have already demonstrated the high content of phenolic compounds in yacon leaf extracts and their in vitro antioxidant activity. In this paper, we present the effects of two organic fractions and two aqueous extracts from the leaves of S. sonchifolius on rat hepatocyte viability, on oxidative damage induced by tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BH) and allyl alcohol (AA), and on glucose metabolism and their insulin-like effect on the expression of cytochrome P450 (CYP) mRNA. All the extracts tested exhibited strong protective effect against oxidative damage to rat hepatocyte primary cultures in concentrations ranging from 1 to 1000 microg/ml, reduced hepatic glucose production via gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis at 1000 microg/ml. Moreover, the effects of the organic fractions (200 and 250 microg/ml) and to a lesser extent, the tea infusion (500 microg/ml) on rat CYP2B and CYP2E mRNA expression, were comparable to those observed with insulin. The combination of radical scavenging, cytoprotective and anti-hyperglycemic activity predetermine yacon leaves for use in prevention and treatment of chronic diseases involving oxidative stress, particularly diabetes.

Yacon is a tender perennial, meaning that it lives for many years but needs to be protected from frost. Other tender perennials are potatoes
(which, along with Yacon, originates from the high Andes) and Dahlias.
Yacon is grown in nearly the same way as Dahlias, and if you've ever grown them before you'll know how easy that is.

Yacon. It is a root vegetable looks like a Potato, that grows underground, and it has a very high inulin content..the Inulin is a non-assimilable sugar so products sweetened with yacon are suitable for diabetics.

Yacon is intensely sweet, with as much as 4,000kg of inulin resulting from a hectare of production. ‘We extract the inulin mechanically, then heat the extracted juice for five or six hours at 70°C,’

Yacon products :

Yacon tabs
Yacon teas
Yacon syrup
Yacon marmalade

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