ABSTRACT
We evaluated the safety of <i>Ashitaba</i> (<i>Angelica keiskei</i>) in bacterial reverse mutation test as well as single and 13-weeks oral toxicity tests. In the bacterial reverse mutation test, ethanol extract of <i>Ashitaba</i> had no reverse mutation inducing activity on five bacterial strains with or without S9 metabolic activation. In the single oral toxicity test, <i>Ashitaba</i> powder (3,500 mg/kg/day) showed no adverse effects in male and female SD rats. In the 13-week repeated oral toxicity test, <i>Ashitaba</i> powder (875 and 1,750 mg/kg/day) showed no adverse effects on body weight, food consumption, blood biochemistry, hematology, urinalysis, ophthalmoscopy, organ weight and histopathology in male and female SD rats. These results indicate that<i> Ashitaba</i> is very safe foodstuff under the conditions of this study.<br>