The anticancer effects of methanol extracts from traditional- and commercial-kochujang (Korean red pepper soybean paste) and their ingredients were evaluated on AGS human gastric cancer cells by MTT assay. The cells were treated with the extracts from traditional- and commercial-kochujangs for 72h. The Kochujang samples inhibited the growth of the cells in a concentration dependent manner. The traditional-kochujang showed higher anticancer effect than the commercial kochujang on AGS human gastric cancer cells. The traditionally prepared sikhae kochujang with glutenous rice powder and malt exhibited higher anticancer effect than the other traditionally prepared kochujangs (cooked rice kernel (bab) or cooked rice cake (Deuk) kochujang). Among the ingredients of the traditional- and commercial-kochujang, meju and glutenous rice powder significantly reduced the viable cancer cells (p＜0.05). Anticancer effect of meju in traditional-kochujang was higher than koji in commercial-kochujang. The meju consisted of higher ratio of soybean to rice exhibited more anticancer effect than the lower ratio of the soybeans. These results indicate that meju and glutenous rice powder in the ingredients seem to be the major anticancer components in traditional kochujang.

Keywords: Traditional-kochujang, Meju, Anticancer, MTT assay