What is Koso? Japan’s secret to longevity? Why Japanese choose Koso over Kombucha?
The word “koso” means enzyme or a ferment in Japanese. So is Koso just a drink which provide us enzymes? The answer is no. Koso drink is a fermented drink using traditional Japanese methods, rich in prebiotic and probiotics. It is also simply called Koso.” Koso helps improve gut health which is closely related to weight loss, skin health, and mental health. Fermented juice cleanse using koso is very popular especially with young Japanese women, but not limited. Most popular ways of using koso are juice cleanse and intermittent cleansing. Intermittent cleansing is done by replacing one or two meals with koso. Fermented juice cleanse includes consuming koso but nothing else for 3days. Koso is also used as a daily supplement elderly people and those who cannot get enough nutrients through their diet or has a problem absorbing nutrients. Why do so many people drink Koso drink and find it beneficial for their health? The secrets are the unique ingredients that Koso drink contains along with the traditional Japanese fermentation method that is utilized to make Koso drink. Koso drink is a fermented beverage. It is usually made from a variety of vegetables and fruits, and is fermented from one month to three years by using a traditional Japanese method. The most common way to make koso is this. Taking out nutrient rich juice from vegetables and fruits using osmotic pressure of sugar and ferment using lactic acid bacteria and yeast naturally found in vegetables and fruits. Traditional blend of lactic acid bacteria and natural yeast are added to it. Duration of fermentation varies depending on the weather, ingredients, and season. It affects the flavor.
Is drinking KOSO beneficial? Why don’t we just eat a variety of foods?
Koso is first introduced as a dietary supplement about 100 years ago. It was difficult to get enough nutrients from the diet at the time. Koso contains not only nutrients from its ingredients but also nutrients added during the process of fermentation. In the modern diet, it is not easy to eat many different kinds of food. How many kinds of food do you eat in one meal? Meal preparation is popular nowadays among those who don’t have time to cook everyday. Meal preparation is commonly done by cooking a big portion of food. It is usually simple and it doesn’t require many ingredients. That is, we are only eating a small variety of food through a week. Meal preparation is a great way to avoid eating not so nutritious foods for those who do not have time or who don’t want to spend too much time cooking. However it can be very difficult to get all the nutrients we need. Also, foods we are eating might not be as nutritious as you think since many foods available are overly processed.R’s Koso has more than 100 ingredients. Also, some nutrients such as B vitamins, Vitamin K, and short fatty chain acids are made during the process of fermentation. Thus, it contains so many different kinds of nutrients that we don’t usually get from one meal. Do we even eat 100 kinds of food in a week? Including the Koso drink in our diet can help us get nutrients which our body is lacking.
Power of fermentation
When food is fermented, not only it enhances the flavor but increases the nutritional profile. Also, fermentation makes it easier for our body to absorb nutrients. When we eat food, our body breaks down nutrients in the food into smaller molecules so that our body can absorb more beneficial nutrients in the foods. This is called digestion. When food is fermented, our body can skip a few steps of digestion as nutrients in the foods are broken down into smaller molecules by enzymes during the process of fermentation. This way, we are able to absorb nutrients easier and faster. Our body can save energy and use it for something else. Furthermore, you get probiotics and prebiotics which support your digestive health. When our digestive system is not working properly, we cannot digest food or absorb nutrients as well as we should. This can cause imbalances in our body. These imbalances can lead to diseases.
What is special about R’s KOSO?
R’s KOSO is made from more than 100 kinds of vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, sea vegetables, and herbs. It is fermented about 1 year. R’s KOSO is fermented by using Japanese method. Japan has high technology and advanced facilities to make fermented foods and drinks. Japanese fermentation culture started eight thousands years ago. Sake, fermented rice drink, is the oldest fermented food that can be found on the record in Japan. Since then, technology of fermentation has improved with experience and development of science.R’s KOSO doesn’t have any artificial ingredients or additives such as flavour, thickener, preservative, sweeter, and fragrance. It is made from seasonal and fine ingredients. Type of sugar used are, for example, oligosaccharide which is known as prebiotic and Japanese raw cane sugar that has high mineral content. Drinking R’s KOSO can help us get a variety of nutrients which we need, but are hard to get from our diet. These nutrients are partly broken down during the process of fermentation so that our body can easily absorb them. Moreover, many people feel the difference in our body by getting probiotics, prebiotics, and enzymes from R’s KOSO, as they are all beneficial and crucial to our health.
Haas, E.M., & Levin, B. (2006). Staying healthy with nutrition. New York, NY: Random House Inc.Tachi, H (2015). Hakko no kihon. Tokyo, : Shinkosha Seibundo
