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Thursday, July 19, 2007

Facts about Kanten...

What's is KANTEN?

KANTEN, known as agar-agar in the West, is an ancient vegetable gelatin traditionally made by completely freezing and drying extracets of various red sea vegetables. KANTEN is unique in that it contains no calories and is very high in fiber. 81.2% of its content is fiber, which is the highest among all foods. It also contains minerals, calcium, iron, and phosphorus which many diets are lacking these days. Because of its high nutritional value, KANTEN has long been loved as a dessert and other cooking ingredients in Japan. Recently, KANTEN's natural jelling ability, mild flavor, and total lack of calories have made it a favorite with heakth-conscious cooks around the world.

Characteristic

1. KANTEN is highly unique because it has zero calories. The WHO categorized it as a "no
limited" food.

2. Because KANTEN has neither a taste nor a smell, it can be used as an ingredient in
combination with other seasonings.

3. KANTEN contains no carbohydrates, no sugar, and no fat.


Good for Weight Loss

There is no need to worry about weight gain when you include KANTEN in your diet. In fact, when consumed KANTEN increases in volume by absorbing water in the stomach which leads you to feel satiated quickly. Even a small amount will keep you feelin full longer as it takes time to break down its glucose helping you reduce your calorie intake. Because KANTEN contains a good balance of nutrition but no calories, it will benefit your beauty as well as health.

Eliminate Bowel Irregularity

Studies show that people today do not consume adequate dietary fiber. Unlike sugars and starches, fiber is not digested but goes on to form an important component of stool. Inadequacy of dietary fiber leads to irregularity in bowel movement which may lead to diseases. KANTEN’s rich dietary fiber shortens the time that the food passes through the digestive system. Because the time that harmful substances stay in the intestine is shortened, risks of intestinal problems will be lowered. In addition, the dietary fiber contained in KANTEN helps to retain water in the intestines softening stool for more rapid and easy bowel movement.

Reduce the Cholesterol

Bileacid is produced when cholesterol is dissolved.

KANTEN adsorbs bile acid and is expelled from the body.

In order to replace bile acid, cholesterol is dissolved continuously.

The amount of cholesterol in the body decreases.



Medical Eficacy of KANTEN


Documents backing up KANTEN's efficacy include the paper, "Effects of agar(kanten) diet on obese patients with impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes" written by H.Meda, R. Yamamoto, K. Hirao and O. Tochikubo published in a British international medical journal "Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism".

Lowering Blood-Sugar Level

Glucose smoothly moves from stomach to intertine where it is absorbed into the bloodstream.

What happens when you eat KANTEN befor a meal?

KANTEN, like gel in the stomach, absorbs glucose.

The mixture of glucose and KANTEN enters the intestine with ease. The speed at which the glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream is slow and rapid rise in blood sugar level restrained.

This process inhibits the body from retaininf and storing excess fat.






This article is fully copyrighted by Iwatsukiya Inc.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've tried agar powder to make vegetarian jello, and it was awful. So I found Kanten supplied from "Natural Import Company". I can't compliment that company enough. The sell frozen tofu prepared traditionally on the mountains of Japan (among other great stuff).

Back to the point: Jelled Kanten is FAR SUPERIOR TO JELLO, and was as much as a success as the agar powder was a failure. Used 3T of OJ concentrate, capful of vanilla extract, pinch of salt, 2T of kanten, followed the package directions, then poured it over slices apples.

It tasted DELICIOUS, like an orange julius, and the texture was delicate, and satisfying. I can't wait to share this with others!

And now that I read your post, I see why I filled up so fast on dinner!

skusno said...

Hi! I suppose agar and kanten is the same ingredient. I have seen the kanten product you were using from Natural Import Company is in bar or flakes form. I am wondering why using agar powder was not as good as using kanten bar or flakes you were using. I understand there are many different quality of agar powder that will give diffrent texture of jelled kanten. FYI, kanten is not stable in very low pH solution, in your case OJ. You need a high gel strength kanten that will still withstand low pH mixture to be able to let you have a soft jelled kanten desserts.

Anonymous said...

Please do some search before making comments on difference between Kanten and Agar Agar... Here are the different names for the same product: it all depends of the country!
Burma: kyauk kyaw
China: dai choy goh
Indonesia: agar-agar
Malaysia: agar-agar
Japan: kanten
Philippines: gulaman
Sri Lanka: chun chow
Thailand: woon
Morocco: agar agar

skusno said...

I believe I did said kanten and agar-agar is the same product. Maybe I was using agar-agar and kanten at the same time that makes me sounds like saying agar-agar & kanten are different. They just different shape, so to speak. Indeed they are all the same product, just different saying for that product. The fact is agar is the common name for all those name mentioned. Sometime the word gulaman used in Philippiones even misuse for those that can gel made from another type of seaweed called "Eucheuma cottonii". Even in Indonesia people like to called this seaweed as "agar agar". No doubt that agar is only extracted from Gelidium spp., Gracilaria spp., Gelidiella spp., Pterocladia spp., Ahnfeltia spp.. Hope this clarifyu my comments before. Sorry for the confusion caused.

dhruv in the kitchen said...

hi, one more clarification on this i need is how we make powde agar out of kanten . what all types of agar is made, which common seweed is used in making kanten or agar agar ...

thanks
dhruv

Kanten World said...

Hi Dolce,

Common seaweed which is used to produce Kanten (Agar Agar) is Gracilaria, Gelidium, Pterocladia, Gelidiella, Denticolatum "spinosum", Kappaphycus alverizii "cottonii" and Hypnea.

And the following is the process in manufacturing Kanten (Agar Agar):
1. Raw seaweed is cleaned and sorted
2. Treatment & Extracting process
3. Filtration process
4. Cooling & Gelling process
5. Hydro Extracting process
6. Drying & Crushing process
7. Kanten (Agar Agar) powder as end product

Hope this will help.

Kanten Editor