BSL, the element of lettuce that makes a bitter taste leads a deep sleep, known by the Gyeonggi Provincial Technical Center.
Take a good night sleep with a lettuce!

From 2000, Gyeonggi Agricultural Research and Extension Service(President Kim, Youngho) and the College of Medicine of Pochon Cha University made a research on the BSL(Bitter Sesquiterpene Lactones) which is the element of lettuce to find out how it works with people falling into to a sleep with 21 different kinds of lettuce raised in Korea.

Milky colored juice from a leaf or a stem of lettuce gives you a very strong bitter taste. From ancient times, this bitter taste leading element has been highlighted by many people with its hypnotic or sleep-inducing effect like what opium gives. BSL element which has no direct effect on the growth and development of lettuce is called the 2nd metabolic product: which the bitter taste becomes stronger in the latter days of breeding than in the earlier days.

There are many folk remedies and nonofficial customs on the lettuce saying it acts like a pain relief, calmative, sleep-inducer and etc. To scientifically demonstrate the popular use of lettuce, Gyeonggi province with Pochon Cha University made an analysis.

As a result of an analysis, dysfunctional rate during a day with intake appeared to be lower than the one without intake, and the rate was even lower in the 2nd day of an analysis than the 1st.

According to the grouping test on 21 different kinds of lettuce bred in Korea, 15 species were classified like 2 species as a super strong bitterness, 3 as a strong, 1 as a neutral and etc. Also, the red colored lettuce is found to taste bitterer than the green ones

BSL is more concentrated in the upper foliate since there is higher amount of BSL in the region of stalk with 1,822.7but only 475.9in the middle foliate and 196.0in the lower foliate. Also, more dried soil is known to be another good condition for more BSL, but the light- shade did not act well for BSL increase.

Based on the result of this test, the bitterness of lettuce can be controlled for each age group. Older age group prefers more bitterish and strong smell lettuce such as red-colored lettuce and the younger age group prefers the green colored lettuce with a less bitterness.

Doctor Lee, Sooyeon from the Horticulture Department of GARES said, “Now, the lettuce farmhouse can produce a tailored lettuce with all preferences by breeding different kinds of species and by altering soil status, light control, and etc.”, and also commented “Lettuce consumption will definitely increase with more choices of lettuce tastes to consumers.”

[Date of Notice July 20, 2006]