What Glycoprotein in Swiftlet’s Nest does?

Glycoprotein is a molecule of carbohydrate plus protein, rich with minerals and 19 amino acids that are essential to physical development & reparation in cell level. More than 80% of Swiftlet’s Nest contained the same water soluble structure of this glycoprotein. It helps and influences bio-activities of the body system.

What is Glycoprotein?

Glycoprotein is a base of human molecule structure. It is an important element in cell matrix and bone. It works as Hormone and vitamin or mineral carriers and also as Lubricator and immunity enhancer in body system. Four Nobel Prizes for Medicine in recent years (1999) have been given to scientists on how cells communicate, and its importance to physical health & well-being, which led to focus on glyco-protein.
Today a number of naturally occurring substances have already been identified as having high glycoprotein content. One of them is Collocalia saliva or Swiftlet’s Nest.
Glycoprotein is a molecule of carbohydrate plus protein, rich with minerals and 19 amino acids that are essential to physical development & reparation in cell level. More than 80% of Swiftlet’s Nest contained the same water soluble structure of this glycoprotein. It helps and influences bio-activities of the body system.

What Glycoprotein in Swiftlet’s Nest does?

 What Glycoprotein in Swiftlet’s Nest does?

Immune System: Swiftlet’s Nest extract has been found to increase the effect of mitogen response of human being central blood monocytes (white blood cells). Glycoproteins in Swiftlet’s Nest stimulate white blood cell (human peripheral blood monocytes) to increase the number and therefore increases immune system of human body.
Antioxidants: Swiftlet’s Nest is rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants are substances or nutrients that can prevent or delay the oxidation of our bodies. Health problems including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc. that are supplied by oxidative damages. Insufficient levels of antioxidants cause oxidative stress and may damage cells.
Reports from the teams of scientists in Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand, have revealed that Swiftlet’s Nest extract stimulates the proliferation of cells which is an EGF-like activity. The fibroblast cells which play major role in improving collagen at skin cells, is enhanced and regenerated. (Kathan, Weeks 1969, N. Houdret 1975, M. Oda 1983. Ng 1986, Kong 1986 1987, T.H Lee 2005, Abidin 2011, N Mazukawa 2011, K.B.Roh 2011.)

Big business in Swiftlet’s Nest in Myanmar seaside town

The cries of amorous Swiftlet’s Nest echo around the dark room, an unlikely gold mine for traders in southern Myanmar, who are cashing in on the rising demand for the Swiftlet’s Nest from China’s growing middle class.

Dozens of buildings dedicated to the tiny birds have sprung up around the seaside town of Bokpyin in recent years, their grey concrete structures towering over the humbler wood and brick homes of the town’s human inhabitants.
Every morning and evening, the air is filled with high-pitched twitterings blasting from loudspeakers, that draw thousands of the swallow-like birds home to roost.
Swiftlet’s Nest have become one of the main industries in the town, which is traditionally known for producing betel nut (areca nut), a chewable stimulant, as well as rubber and palm oil.
Traders can charge around US$2,000 (RM8,591) a viss (equivalent to 1.63kg) for the tiny nests – more than the average person in Myanmar earns in a year.
“We started making man-made Swiftlet’s Nest (houses) 10 years ago,” said Paing Set Aung, who owns one of the buildings where hundreds of Swiftlet’s Nest make their homes in the rafters.
“Initially, there was a house where the birds came to roost by themselves. After that, people started to construct man-made bird houses.”
Most of the tiny white nests, which are made from solidified bird spit, are sold to neighbouring China.
Long considered the reserve of the country’s wealthy elite – who ate them at lavish banquets – they are increasingly in demand from middle-class consumers.
Today, the global Swiftlet’s Nest industry is estimated to be worth US$5bil (RM21.5bil), most of it produced in South-East Asia.
Myanmar’s exports have surged since 2011 – the year the former junta handed over power to a quasi-civilian government.
“Swiftlet’s Nest are one of the main businesses in Bokpyin,” said local Lin Aung, who built his first house five years ago and is now on his third.
“China is the top buyer of Swiftlet’s Nest here.”

‘Caviar of the East’

Once across the border, the nests are transformed into one of the most expensive foods in the world.
When boiled in water, they dissolve into a gelatinous gloop which is then made into desserts, or drunk as a soup or a tonic that is said to prolong life and improve strength.
There is little peer-reviewed scientific data showing that nests have proven medicinal properties. Nutritional studies have shown the saliva to be mainly made up of protein, followed by carbohydrates.
In Shanghai, restaurants sell this “the caviar of the East”, as it is known, for hundreds of dollars a bowl.
Many of them cater specifically to women, who believe the nests can help smooth the complexion and make them look younger.
The tonic is also said to help during pregnancy – one of Shanghai’s high-end spas solely for mothers-to-be even has its own restaurant, and sells gift bags for as much as RMB3,900 (RM2,431).
Shoppers can also order the products online, including candied Swiftlet’s Nest from Myanmar to be eaten as sweets.
“In China, the Swiftlet’s Nest has been a really famous and much-loved traditional tonic since ancient times,” Zhang Yi told AFP, speaking from her NestCha restaurant.
“It is mild and a little sweet. It is good for women, the elderly, children and men.”

Growing industry

These luxury products are a far cry from the nests’ humble beginnings on the islands of Myanmar’s southern archipelago.
To begin with, they were harvested on the region’s many islands by daring climbers, who risked life and limb scaling treacherous cliffs without any safety equipment.
For years, the industry was dominated by the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (Umehl), a sprawling conglomerate controlled by the military elites that ran Myanmar for half a century.
But, as in much of South-East Asia, production has increasingly moved into urban centres.
Locals in the southern city of Myeik started building houses to attract the birds decades ago; later, production spread to Bokpyin and nearby Kawthaung.
There are now more than 130 houses devoted to the Swiftlet’s Nest dotted around the region, according to state media.
Competition for space in Bokpyin between Swiftlet’s Nest producers and tourism developers has seen land prices surge to as high as US$75,000 (RM322,000) a plot in the downtown area – on par with parts of the commercial capital Yangon.
Nests are normally harvested three or four times a year, but traders can collect them as often as once a month if they are in need of cash.
Producer Aung Kyaw Moe said that because the swiftlet populations naturally increase as the birds become accustomed to their homes, the industry will only grow in the coming years.
“They are like humans, because they come and live here after they get to know the place,” he told AFP, standing next to his tall wooden bird house in Myeik. — AFP/Athens Zaw Zaw & Matthew Smith