This study was to demonstrate the comparison of immunological activity between vegetable soup made by fresh and extruded radish in in-vitro (bone marrow-derived macrophages and dendritic cells, and mouse splenocytes) and invivo models. In cell survival tests, extruded radish added to vegetable soup (EVS) and non-extruded radish added to vegetable soup powder (NEVS) were treated with bone-marrow derived macrophages, dendritic cells, and mouse splenocytes, and showed no cytotoxic effect at a dose below 1000 μg/mL. EVS treated cells had greater cell proliferation and cytokine [tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β, IL-2, interferon (INF)-γ] production when compared to the NEVS treated group. Cell surface marker (CD 80/86, MHC class I/II) expression in bone marrow-derived macrophages and dendritic cells was evenly increased in the EVS treated group. In in-vivo study, administration of EVS increased for the CD4 and CD8 T cell population in splenocyte and cytokine production (IL-2, IFN-γ, TNF-α) but not Th2 type cytokines (IL-4). Therefore, adding the extruded radish is a more effective method for vegetable soup to increase immunological activity against immune cells.

Vegetable soup has been reported to have anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and anti-cancer effects. In this study, five kinds of vegetable soup were developed using a new manufacturing process and compositional changes in raw material, and anti-cancer and immuno-stimulatory activities were evaluated. Cytotoxicity tests based on MTT assay revealed that all vegetable soups had strong inhibitory effects against CT26 mouse colon cancer cells, with soups including Solomon’s seal being most effective based on comparison of IC50 values. Apoptosis in response to vegetable soup was occurred by 3-5 fold on cancer cells compared to normal cells. Mouse splenocytes increased by 266-541% in response to addition of vegetable soup in an in vitro proliferation experiment. In co-culture with splenocytes and CT26 cancer cells, splenocytes increased by more than 280% in every vegetable soup treatment, while cancer cells decreased by about 60% and cytokines such as IFN-γ and IL-12 were secreted from splenocytes in high levels only in response to vegetable soup including Solomon’s seal. In conclusion, all vegetable soups developed in this study had anti-cancer effects, and vegetable soup including Solomon’s seal showed the strongest anti-cancer and immuno-stimulatory effects. These results suggest that functionality of vegetable soup could be increased by changes in manufacturing processes and raw materials composition.

The feasibility of reduction of sodium intake using sun-dried salt and monosodium glutamate (MSG) was studied. Preference test was performed to evaluate the sensory properties of bean-sprout soup and vegetable rice porridge soup. Sun-dried salt and MSG might be a partial substitute for refined salt. There was a significant difference in salt taste strength between sun-dried salt and refined salt. Sun-dried salts 0.45% with MSG 0.07% resulted in the highest taste preference compared to that of sun-dried salts 0.60% without MSG in bean-sprout soup, which resulted in 23.9% reduction of sodium intake. Sun-dried salts 0.38% with MSG 0.04% resulted in the highest taste preference compared to sun-dried salts 0.53% without MSG in vegetable rice porridge soup, which resulted in 25.4% reduction of sodium intake. There seemed to be a synergistic effect on reduced usage of sodium salt when MSG was used in vegetable rice porridge and bean-sprout soup with sun-dried salt.