About “Jabara”

“Jabara”(Citrus jabara), classified in Rutaceae, was firstly produced by means of natural crossbreeding of Citrus, which are grown locally in kitayamamura, higashimuro-gun, Wakayama Pref., JAPAN and its surrounding area.  “Jabara” is said to be named for the Japanese which means ‘expelling evil spirits’ and have been used as a lucky charm.

Although fruit constituents of many Citrus contain much of naringin, hesperidin and neohesperidin (: flavanone glycosides), it is particularly worth noting that our “Jabara” contains almost narirutin only as constituents of the fruit in extremely high quantity.  The concentrations of these common flavanone glycosides contained in the peel are reported to be high at the time of immature young fruit, and decrease with the fruits being matured. 1)2) The same tendency was observed in the concentrations of narirutin, a main constituent of “Jabara”.  Additionally, total amount of narirutin per one fruit has been found to be maximum in the one harvested in around November.

In recent years, they say via the internet that “Jabara” may alleviate common symptoms encountered in those patients with pollinosis.  On the other hand, Dr. Kimura et al.3) studied about the inhibitory effect on degranulation, being one of the mechanisms in the pathogenesis of pollinosis, of Citrus fruits, such as Citrus unshiu, Citrus junos, and Citrus hassaku, as well as “Jabara”.  The results of that study showed that the most remarkable inhibitory effects were indicated in “Jabara” extracts and at the same time, narirutin was one of the inhibitory constituents contained in those Citrus fruits.  

Dr. Kubo et al.2) indicated that narirutin inhibited the ear swelling due to allergic reaction (1-type and 4-type), through a dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB)-induced triphasic skin reaction test in actively sensitized mice. 

On the other hand, Dr. Fujiwara et al.4) showed that narirutin inhibited significantly the ovalbumin-induced increases of IgE and IL-4 in allergic mice and the number of inflammatory cells in lung tissues were also reduced. 

Furthermore, Dr. Fujiwara et al.5) reported the effects of “Jabara” juice intake on symptoms and quality of life (QOL) in patients with Japanese cedar pollinosis: the symptoms such as runny nose, sneeze, stuffy nose, itchy nose, itchy eye and watery eyes were significantly improved without any side effects such as drowsiness.

As mentioned above, although the detailed mechanism on the effects of “Jabara” in human has not yet been clarified, it has been shown that “Jabara” fruit exerts the inhibitory effects on 1-type allergy, such as pollinosis. 

Thus, “Jabara” fruit can be expected as a promising supplement for alleviating the 1-type allergic reaction.