Japanese super pill: a surmise
Col. G. L. Sicherman
losing weight. The trade name is "Amitol Plus," and the spiel is
typically misleading. It puzzled me when the pitchman stated that
the Japanese have been using it for centuries. But I think I've
got the explanation:
To judge from the claim and from the name, Amitol-Plus is probably
alpha-amylase, or diastase, a powerful starch digestant. If I remember
right, the stuff is used in the manufacture of sake, or rice wine--
hence the claim! I believe it's also sold by Parke, Davis as "Taka-
Diastase."
By the way, I've also heard the word "takadiastase" used generically.
What's the distinction, if any, between "diastase" and "takadiastase?"
I've also heard that it can be extracted from malaria germs! Can
such things be?
(My first encounter with the word "takadiastase" was in Chernev and
Reinfeld's _Fireside Book of Chess!_ A couple of doctors used the
word in a memory test for the American grandmaster H. N. Pillsbury.)
--
Col. G. L. Sicherman
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Larry Lippman
> A local TV station has been advertising a "Japanese super pill" for
> losing weight. The trade name is "Amitol Plus," and the spiel is
> typically misleading. It puzzled me when the pitchman stated that
> the Japanese have been using it for centuries.
>
> alpha-amylase, or diastase, a powerful starch digestant. If I remember
> I believe it's also sold by Parke, Davis as "Taka-Diastase."
>
> By the way, I've also heard the word "takadiastase" used generically.
> What's the distinction, if any, between "diastase" and "takadiastase?"
I guess that taka-diastase can be used generically. It is produced
by a type of fungus called Aspergillus oryzae, and is in effect a "yeast"
product. Taka-diastaste is not a precisely defined substance; it exhibits a
large number of enzymatic effects - in fact, well over 25 DIFFERENT enzymatic
functions.
Diastase is just an amylolytic enzyme; i.e., it converts say, potato
starch into sugars such as dextrin (starch gum) and maltose. Taka-diastase,
however, not only exhibits amylolytic function, but also digests fats and
proteins.
> I've also heard that it can be extracted from malaria germs! Can
> such things be?
I doubt it. Malaria is caused by a protozoa (Plasmodium vivax). I
can't imagine protozoa producing taka-diastase; even if they did, I can't
imagine commercial production from protozoa when taka-diastase can be so
easily produced from Aspergillus fungus growing on wheat bran or rice.
==> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York
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Col. G. L. Sicherman
> can't imagine protozoa producing taka-diastase; even if they did, I can't
> imagine commercial production from protozoa when taka-diastase can be so
> easily produced from Aspergillus fungus growing on wheat bran or rice.
The name "plasmodium" sounds familiar. Maybe it's a different species
within the genus? Come to think of it, "plasmodium" was on that list
of words that Pillsbury memorized. That can't be a coincidence.
By the way, are there any experts on plant rusts here on the Net? There's
an obscure disease I'm trying to track down...!
"It is customary for each family to engage in a little agriculture
in the closet and grow mushrooms, the _fungus impudicus_ that
springs up in the night like the phallus. Women devote them-
selves to the home-manufacture of a kind of spaghetti or noodles,
and from all the windows in the residential neighborhoods can be
seen, hanging from poles and drying in the sun, such fringes of
spaghetti or noodles. Wood fires are lit from sticks of furni-
ture going out of fashion, and meals are prepared of noodles or
spaghetti with mushroom sauce."
--Paul Goodman and Percival Goodman, _Communitas_
Stanley Friesen
>> I doubt it. Malaria is caused by a protozoa (Plasmodium vivax). I
>> can't imagine protozoa producing taka-diastase;
>
>within the genus? Come to think of it, "plasmodium" was on that list
>of words that Pillsbury memorized. That can't be a coincidence.
>
different uses in biology. First it is the name of a large genus of
parasitic protozoa(including P. vivax). It is *also* a word used to
refer to the "body" of certain fungi, such as slime molds. Without
more data we cannot tell which way it was being used in the ad.
--
Sarima (Stanley Friesen)
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