St. Catherine University SOPHIA Master of Arts in Holistic Health Studies Research Papers Holistic Health Studies 5-2016 A Systematic Review of Ume Health Benefits Mina Christensen St. Catherine University Follow this and additional works at: https://sophia.stkate.edu/ma_hhs Part of the Alternative and Complementary Medicine Commons Recommended Citation Christensen, Mina. (2016). A Systematic Review of Ume Health Benefits. Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/ma_hhs/4 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Holistic Health Studies at SOPHIA. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master of Arts in Holistic Health Studies Research Papers by an authorized administrator of SOPHIA. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Running head: A SYTEMATIC REVIEW OF UME HEALTH BENEFITS 1 A Systematic Review of Ume Health Benefits Mina Christensen St. Catherine University May 18, 2016 A SYTEMATIC REVIEW OF UME HEALTH BENEFITS ii Abstract Ume is a Japanese apricot, and Bainiku Ekisu (BE) is concentrated ume juice. Ume has been used as a food and folk remedy for thousands of years in East Asian countries, and BE was created in Japan centuries ago and has been used as a remedy since. In the Western world, the nutritional and medicinal benefits of ume and BE are not popularly known, despite many experimental studies showing their numerous health benefits. There are no known systematic reviews of the health benefits of ume and BE. Therefore, this systematic review describes the last 20 years of quality empirical studies that investigate ume and BE health benefits.