You might recognize many Japanese people are concerned about their health in daily life. We have a lot of foods and drinks that maintain good health and these are available in Japan. However, we don’t know if these foods and drinks are really good for health. Therefore, the Japanese government created system called “Tokuho”(トクホ) which informs customers of each items specific health effects. I think we see the tokuho logo in so many products in our daily life. The food and drink alone is not a medicine, but it does have certain positive effects for health that are pre-approved and advertised to consumers.
(Reference: Wikipedia)
The popular tokuho drinks are the plastic tea bottles below. I think you’ve seen them in the supermarket and at convenience stores in Japan. These are more expensive than the ordinary tea bottles, and are becoming popular among people who care about their health. I would like to introduce some of them below.
(Reference: Fitness Junkie)
- Healthya (ヘルシア)
Healthya green tea by Kao is one of the major tokuho drinks. It contains the ingredient called “catechin”. Catechin is well known as an anti-oxidation polyphenols that is contained in tea, especially green tea. It is said that it promotes to use fat inside the body as energy. This healthya series has a lot of drinks that promote using fat within the body, such as tea, coffee, and carbonated juice, and water.
(Reference: Tarzan)
- Kuro Oolong Tea(黒ウーロン茶)
Kuro Oolong Tea by Suntory is also a well-known tokuho product recently. It contains Oolong Tea Polymerized Polyphenols that prevents fat from being absorbed into the body. It is recommended to drink this with your meal.
(Reference: Suntory)
- Goma Mugi-cha(胡麻麦茶)
This Suntory product is said to be good to lower the blood pressure. This tea includes the ingredient sesame peptide, which works with certain enzymes in blood vessels to control and lower blood pressure.
(Reference: http://血圧サプリメント.net/)
It is important to know that tokuho isn’t a medicine, and every tokuho product has a fixed amount you should take daily. Don’t take too much at once and don’t expect to cure any diseases like you would when taking medicine. Also you need to choose the best one according to your objective. Continuing to take tokuho every day together with your healthy lifestyle will definitely make a positive change with your inner body in the future.
Rumiko
Japan