MANILA, Philippines — Nueva Vizcaya entrepreneurs and food experts are not content with merely shipping out raw yacon tubers to Japan.

They want the Japanese market to buy as well anti-diabetes juice, tea, and wine, noting that yacon has phytochemicals that battle colon cancer, a disease that has the highest frequency among wasabi-chomping Japanese.

Dr. Perlita C. Tiburcio, vice president of the Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) and a food specialist, said yacon's sweetness comes from inulin –a group of naturally occurring polysaccharides produced by many types of plants – rather than from glucose.

Inulin is not a digestible carbohydrate, a non-digestible sugar and thus not contribute to any increase in blood sugar levels.

It belongs to a class of fiber called fructans that stores energy in the roots or rhizomes of some plants.

Yacon’s other known health benefits due to its oligofructans and phenolic contents are skin rejuvenation, reduction of blood triglyceride level and alleviation of hyperglycemia, kidney problems, and osteoporosis.

NVSU's project to develop yacon-based export products has the support of the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR), according to director Dr. Nicomedes Eleazar.

A 50-hectare farm in Claveria, Cagayan is the current source of raw yacon for a contractor that ships tubers to Japan.

For the processed form of yacon, wines already reach Japan through hand-carried transport of Filipino balikbayans that use the wine as gift or pasalubong.

In Nueva Vizcaya, an area of at least five hectares in Dupax is a source of yacon for Fred’s Wine, an enterprise assisted by NVSU.

A family enterprise of Wilfred Dugaysan, Fred’s Wine is now distributed in pasalubong centers and SM stores.

NVSU’s pilot production will involve physico-chemical and nutritional evaluation of yacon products.