pyrrolizidine alkaloids
compound class / compound-pyrrolizidine-alkaloids
ピロリジジンアルカロイド類
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids: an alkaloid class containing petasitenin, neopetasitenin, and senkirukine. Some members exhibit hepatotoxicity. Present in some plants of the Asteraceae and Boraginaceae families containing Petasites.
Photographs (captions in Japanese)
Leaves and leaf stalks of mature Japanese butterbur (Petasites japonicus). Pyrrolizidine alkaloids such as petasitenine are reported to be present in some plants of the daisy and borage families, including Petasites, and this is a photograph of the source plant, not of the compounds themselves.
Raw materialShown: Petasites japonicus (Japanese butterbur)Part / state: Mature leaves and leaf stalks
Photo: aomorikuma / CC BY-SA 3.0 / original image / ledger's original image
Scope and provenance of the photo
Identification: Identified as labelled in the source. A photograph of mature leaves, different from ingredient-fukinoto (a flower bud photograph) and compound-bakkenolide-b (a flower bud photograph) (to avoid duplication).
Image shown: The full-size file from Wikimedia Commons. No cropping or color changes by NIGAMI LAB. For display, a WebP capped at 1200 px wide is served; the ledger's original image can be checked from the link above.
On this page (7 sections)
Reading the bitterness
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are a group of alkaloids containing petasitenin, neopetasitenin, senkirukine, and others, some of which have known hepatotoxicity. They exist in some plants of the Asteraceae and Boraginaceae families, including fuki and fukinotou. In this encyclopedia, this compound group is presented not as the source of bitterness but as a safety consideration accompanying fuki and fukinotou, which are bitter mountain vegetables. According to publicly available information from Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, these alkaloids were found in the majority of fuki and fukinotou distributed domestically, with concentrations higher in fukinotou than in fuki. However, it is also stated that no health harm suspected to be caused by consumption of fuki and fukinotou has been reported domestically.
Because these alkaloids have the property of being easily soluble in water, their content is described as being able to be greatly reduced by traditional preparation methods such as blanching and soaking in water. However, the specific numerical value of what percentage this reduction represents has not been shown on this page of publicly available information. Other researchers have quantified petasin and pyrrolizidine alkaloids (petasitenin, neopetasitenin, senkirukine) in fukinotou extracts, and have found that extraction with non-polar solvents such as hexane can extract more petasin while keeping alkaloid content low. However, this is a result for extracts, and must be read as distinct from the content in fuki and fukinotou themselves as consumed as food.
Sources for this overview
Checked for this overview: Detection from the majority of domestically distributed products, high concentrations in fukinotou, and no reported health harm. / Statement of reduction through blanching and soaking in water due to water solubility.
キク科山菜に含まれる機能性成分：野生植物として生き抜いてきた山菜の化学戦略を利用する
Checked for this overview: Confirmation of quantitative experiments showing low PA and high petasin with hexane extraction.
Follow the connections
Japanese butterbur (fuki) →contains→ pyrrolizidine alkaloids
aku-nuki (blanch-and-soak treatment) →reduces→ pyrrolizidine alkaloids
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
How processing and cooking change it (1)
Scope: Fuki and fukinoto. Public information from MAFF based on a survey of PA in foods
Note: Explained as due to the water-soluble nature of PAs. The reduction rate is not given as a number on the information page, and the press release for the 2nd-report content survey that carried the figures could not be retrieved (403).
Show data
process-aku-nuki —reduces→ compound-pyrrolizidine-alkaloidsSafety and regulation (1)
Scope: Japanese commercial fuki and fukinotou summarized on the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' publicly available information page.
Note: The same page also states that no health harm suspected to be caused by eating fuki and fukinotou has been reported in Japan. This description summarizes publicly available information and is not health advice.
Show data
organism-petasites —contains→ compound-pyrrolizidine-alkaloids