A Bird in the Hand

Birds nest soup is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. The Chinese name for bird's nest soup, yn w (), translates literally as swallow's nest . This soup has been consumed in China for o!er in e"cess of #$$$ years. %ccordin& to 'un(Cheun& )on&, a professor of biochemistry at the Chinese *ni!ersity of +on& )on&, swiftlet nests were first traded in China durin& the Tan& ,ynasty (-#.(/$0 %.,.). 1ometime between the years #2-. and #-33, %dmiral Chen& +e introduced forei&n nests to the imperial court of the 4in& ,ynasty. 5t is belie!ed that e!en at this point in time domestic supplies of the nests had been lar&ely depleted. which made imports in hi&h demand. 6dible birds nests are amon& the most e"pensi!e animal products consumed by humans. The material is also used in Traditional Chinese 4edicine and in Traditional 7ietnamese 4edicine.

Video above: Hundreds of thousands of swiftlets returning to their nesting house owned by Yen Viet Company - this occurs each evening. Harvesting

The nests are made by a relati!ely small number of species of swift, namely ca!e swifts, that ha!e a uni8ue chemical te"ture to the sali!a they use to ma9e their nests. The soup and a mostly clear &elatin ser!ed in small :ars is now !ery popular throu&hout %sia, perhaps because it has the reputation of bein& an aphrodisiac or ha!in& traditional health enhancin& 8ualities. Based on recent research, it appears that this claim of health benefits is not a myth but based on real fact. %ccordin& to a recent medical research reported by +on& )on& Chinese *ni!ersity, the cell di!ision en;yme and hormone of birds nest can promote reproduction and re&eneration of human cells. 5t also helps promote ones immune system and enhances body metabolism.

1wiftlets (collocaliini) are tiny insecti!orous birds that are distributed from the 5ndian <cean, throu&h 1outheast %sia includin& Thailand, 4alaysia, 7ietnam, the =hilippines and 5ndonesia and >orth %ustralia to the =acific. The small birds eat insects only and catch these insects on the fly as they fly from nearly first li&ht until nearly dar9. %mon&st !arious species of swiftlets in the &enus of Collocalia, only the nests of four species mostly spread throu&hout 1outheast %sian re&ion ha!e commercial !alue because of human consumption. They are Collocalia fucipha&a, Collocalia &ermanis, Collocalia ma"ima and Collocalia unicolor. Collocalia species are relati!ely small and a!era&e -.?& in wei&ht, and ha!e &lossy pluma&e. 6ach of these species produces nests with sali!ary &lue, a cementin& substance, althou&h other materials such as !e&etation or feathers may also be utili;ed. 5t ta9es the bird about @$(2? days to finish the nest. The nests ta9e the shape of a shallow cup stuc9 to the ca!e wall. The nests are composed of interwo!en strands of sali!ary laminae cement. >ests ha!e hi&h le!els of calcium, iron, potassium, and ma&nesium. The edible bird's nests ( in Chinese) made up of pure sali!ary &lue are much more e"pensi!e than those incorporatin& other materials. These nests with other materials are considered seconds or lesser !alued. %ccordin& to reports, the most hea!ily har!ested nests are from the 6dible(nest 1wiftlet or Ahite(nest 1wiftlet (%erodramus fucipha&us) and the Blac9(nest 1wiftlet (%erodramus ma"imus). The white nests and the red blood nests are supposedly rich in nutrients which are traditionally belie!ed to pro!ide health benefits, such as aidin& di&estion, raisin& libido, impro!in& the !oice, alle!iatin& asthma, impro!in& focus, and an o!erall benefit to the immune system.

(Pictures above) Mr. Vo Thai Lam, Chairman and General Director, Yen Viet (far ri ht), author, Mr. ! u"en Van #e and Yen Viet$s !ha Tran Mana er in front of Yen Viet$s si n in a modern industrial %ar& in !inh Thuan (see our article on !inh Thuan) The Business of Producing and Bringing to Market Birds Nests China, +on& )on& and Taiwan are the lar&est importers of these nests. 5n +on& )on& a bowl of Bird >est 1oup would cost B2$ *1, to B#$$ *1,. % 9ilo&ram of white nest can cost up to B@,$$$ *1,, and a 9ilo&ram of red blood nest can cost up to B#$,$$$ *1,. The white nests are commonly treated with a red pi&ment, but methods ha!e been de!eloped to determine an adulterated or altered nest. The nests were formerly har!ested from ca!es, principally the enormous limestone ca!es at Comanton& and >iah in Borneo. Aith the escalation in demand these sources ha!e been supplanted since the late #//$s by purpose( built nestin& houses, usually reinforced concrete structures either in the form of shop houses, theaters, etc. These nestin& houses are normally found in urban areas a:oinin& the sea, since the birds ha!e a propensity to floc9 in such places. This industry has transformed many towns in the 5ndonesian =ro!ince of >orth 1umatra as well as limited areas in 7ietnam, Thailand and the =alawan area of the =hilippines. Birds nests from the more pro&ressi!e companies li9e 'en 7iet Company in 7ietnam which collects birds nest from multiple sites in )hanh +oa, >inh Thuan and other pro!inces in 7ietnam are har!ested in an ecolo&ically sustainable way. The birds are nurtured and the nests are ne!er remo!ed while the e&&s or small birds are present. Drom 7ietnam, 5ndonesia, Thailand and elsewhere the nests are mostly e"ported to +on& )on&, which has become the centre of the world trade, thou&h most of the final consumers are from mainland China. 5n 5ndonesia, the importance of this trade has become !ery lar&e. 5t has been estimated that the products now account for $.?E of the 5ndonesian C,=, e8ui!alent to about a 8uarter of the country's fishin& industry. Health Benefits of Birds Nests The medicinal use of edible bird's nest can be traced bac9 to the #0th century but maybe e!en earlier. 5n +on& )on& and in Chinese diaspora locations throu&hout the world, traditional Chinese medicine (TC4) is often used to treat diseases and enhance health. 5t is belie!ed that TC4 herbs ha!e wide(ran&in& effects for enhancin& health, lowerin& ris9 of diseases and promotin& life span. Bein& one of the TC4s, edible bird's nest is belie!ed to ha!e health enhancin& effects such as anti(a&in&, &rowth promotin& and immuno(enhancin& properties. +owe!er, unli9e other traditional medicine materials edible bird's nest is different from most of the TC4s. 5t is uni8ue in that it is not only a medicine to ma9e people healthy but also a pleasant food to be consumed and en:oyed. Traditionally, it is double boiled with roc9 su&ar to ma9e a delicacy 9nown as bird's nest soup . The &elatin drin9 that is ser!ed in small &lass bottles also is processed with roc9 su&ar and has a sli&htly sweet taste.

%lthou&h the si;e of Collocalia bird is small, the mar9et &enerated by it is 8uite lar&e and &rowin& at double di&it rates. 4alaysia is the world's third lar&est supplier of birds' nests after Thailand and 5ndonesia, contributin& #$ percent of the @#$ tonnes, worth up to B3 billion *1 dollars, consumed annually by top buyers in China and Taiwan. The si;e and importance of this mar9et is hu&e for all of these countries. Dor e"ample, today there are 3$,$$$ swallow houses in 4alaysia with some .,$$$ people ta9in& part in swallow farmin& acti!ities. %lso accordin& to the 4alaysian Dederation of Birds >est 4erchants %ssociation 4alaysia's annual production of bird's nests had reached # billion rin&&it (@/$ million *.1. dollars) in !alue and was e"pected to hit ? billion rin&&it (#.30 billion *.1. dollars) in another fi!e years. 5n 7ietnam, many of the birds nest companies earn millions of *1 dollars in sales of their products which ha!e a &ood reputation both domestically and internationally. Dor e"ample, 'en 7iet Tradin& and 1er!ice Fimited Company which is based in >inh Thuan but has a total of #. locations throu&hout the country where they raise the birds and har!est the nests achie!es sales of o!er *1 B? million per year of which 2$ percent are from e"ports. 4r. 7o Thai Fam, Chairman and Ceneral ,irector, of the company has achie!ed a !ery hi&h le!el of return based on his re!erence for the birds and his constant willin&ness to put their well bein& ahead of short term profits. This approach has borne results in 7ietnam and already 'en 7iet is a leadin& brand in 7ietnam and yearly increases its sales internationally in +on& )on&, Taiwan, China and elsewhere. Ahy is +on& )on& the leadin& consumer of birds nestsG 5t may be due in part to the fact that +on& )on& people are increasin&ly concerned about their health and the status of TC4 has risen after a series of &o!ernment policies on TC4. 4oreo!er, the dual nature of edible bird's nest, which utili;es them both as medicine andHor food, may play a role as food in centrally lin9in& cultural pastime in +on& )on&. 5n the past, people could only buy dried edible bird's nests and render them in a fairly time consumin& process. This has chan&ed and currently a lar&e !ariety of edible bird's nest related products ha!e emer&ed in the mar9et. These products are mostly ready to ser!e products. >o coo9in& process is re8uired. %mon&st these new products, most of them are still in the traditional form as bird's nest soup, such as instant bird's nest in different concentrations. 1ome instant bird's nest may also be supplemented with other TC4s. %part from the traditional form, there is a trend of usin& edible bird's nest e"tract as one of the chief in&redients of the products. These products focus mainly on the medicinal use of edible bird's nest. +owe!er, some of them may e"a&&erate the e!idence of therapeutic use of edible bird's nest. Dor the limited supply and hi&h price of edible bird's nest, it is not uncommon to hear reports of fa9e edible bird's nest in the mar9et. The imitation substitute commonly used is the edible plant(e"ude, &um 9araya or sterculia. Iecently, there are reports of fa9e edible bird's nest made from fishes' s9in, mushroom or al&ae in China. Because of these reports, there are increasin& concerns on authenticatin& the &enuineness of edible bird's nest.

(Picture left) Mana ement of Yen Viet, Mr. #e, the 'uthor and Mr. #ui Tuon Minh of (unc&el ) 'ssocites outside the com%an"$s Phan (an main office. (Picture ri ht) The Parents of Mr. Vo Thai Lam *ho no* live in the +.,. and are %roud %ro%onents of the health as%ects of bird$s nests.

Authenticity of Edible Bird's Nest 5n recent years, there has been increasin& reports of fa9e edible birds nests. 1tartin& in the #//$s, the first comprehensi!e report on authentication of edible bird's nests were published. These reports demonstrated the possibility to use scannin& electron microscopy, ener&y dispersi!e J(ray microanalysis, flame atomic emission spectroscopy, inducti!ely coupled plasma(atomic emission spectroscopy, ultra!iolet(!isible spectroscopy and other physico(chemical techni8ues to determine the authenticity of edible bird's nest. These tests were difficult to run, e"pensi!e and only wor9ed on some of the substances used to imitate birds nests. Iecently, a China based research team de!eloped a simple but accurate and reliable spectrophotometry method to determine edible bird's nest content. The method is based on the reaction between >(acetylneuramic acid and ninhydrin in acid solution. The method e!aluates the internal content of >(acetylneuramic acid, a nine(carbon su&ars, which is one of the ma:or components in edible bird's nest. Nutritional Content and Medicinal se

6dible bird's nest contains mainly amino acids, carbohydrates and mineral salts. The ma:or in&redients of edible bird's nest are &lycoproteins. %mon&st the carbohydrates in edible bird's nest, sialic acid (/E) is the ma:or one. 5t was found that e"o&enous source of sialic acid may contribute to neurolo&ical and intellectual ad!anta&es in infantsK#@L. +owe!er, the nutritional and biolo&ical mechanisms of sialic acid in human body are still under in!esti&ation. The other ma:or carbohydrates include 0.@E &alactosamine, ?.2E &lucosamine, #-./E &alactose and $.0E fucose. %mino acids and mineral salts are also important components in edible bird's nest. Three non(essential amino acids (aspartic acid, &lutamic acid, praline) and two essential amino acids (threonine and !aline) can be foundK##L. They could facilitate normal body functions such as cell repair and promote immunity. 6dible bird's nest is rich in mineral salts. 5t contains hi&h content of sodium and calcium. 5t is because the source of edible bird's nest is deri!ed from sali!a Collocalia inhabitin& mainly in limestone ca!es. 5n addition, low le!els of ma&nesium, ;inc, man&anese and iron are also detected in edible bird's nestK.L. 5n spite of the lon& history of usin& edible bird's nest for medicinal purposes, there is not much scientific research related to the therapeutic use of birds nest. The earliest recent scientific e!idence was &i!en by >& et al. (#/.-) in +on& )on&. 6dible bird's nest a8ueous e"tract was found in his studies to potentiate mito&enic response of human peripheral blood monocytes to stimulation with proliferati!e a&ents, Concana!alin % and =hytohema&&lutinin %. The results of this research su&&ested that edible bird's nest mi&ht possess immunoenhancin& effect by aidin& cell di!ision of immune cells. <ne year later, other scientific e!idence was published by )on& et al. This study demonstrated an epidermal &rowth factor (6CD)(li9e acti!ity in a8ueous e"tract of edible bird's nest that stimulated the ,>% synthesis in 2T2 fibroblast in a dose dependent manner in !itro. 6CD is a -,$$$ ,a polypeptide hormone produced by &lands of the &astrointestinal tract, namely the sali!ary and Brunner's &lands. 5t appears to play a crucial role in ma:or normal cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation and de!elopment. 5t may offer a rationale for the medicinal use of edible bird's nest in a&ein& resistance. 1ince the receptor for 6CD is hi&hly e"pressed in a number of solid tumors, includin& breast, head(and(nec9, non( small(cell lun&, renal, o!arian and colon cancer, people are worried about a possibility to induce tumor pro&ression and to resist chemotherapyHradiation treatment in tumor cellsM in conse8uence, su&&est that cancer patients should a!oid edible bird's nest. 5n fact, there is no e!idence supportin& this su&&estion. Currently we ha!e e!aluated the effects of a8ueous e"tract of edible bird's nest on the !iability on two human cancer cell lines, human breast cancer 4CD(0 (%TCC +TB(@@) and human li!er cancer +epC@ (%TCC +B(.$-?). There was no obser!able effect on cell !iability when comparin& with the control &roup (unpublished data). 5n #//3, a research team in China, e!aluated the pharmacolo&ical effects of edible bird's nest and pearl powder

containin& formulation. The formulation was demonstrated to ha!e immuno enhancin& effects by ele!atin& ,>% synthesis of T(lymphacytes and circulatin& immuno&lobulin 4 content in mice. 5n addition, the formulation also showed a&ein& retardation by increasin& the le!el of supero"ide dimutase. +owe!er, the study did not e"plore whether the effects came from either edible bird's nest, pearl powder or both. !urther "tudies 6dible bird's nest has been used for hundreds or more probably thousands of years. ,espite this, scientific e!idence for its efficacy is still limited. The claimed health benefits such as resistin& a&in& and impro!in& immunity of edible bird's nest is yet to be conclusi!ely pro!en. Iecently, &roups in +on& )on& and more recently in 7ietnam, led by <n& Ba ,at =hen, 4ephydica and ,elphi +ealth 1er!ice are conductin& modern biotech and biochemical research on 7ietnamese birds nests to better document the health promotin& 8ualities and to better understand the science. This research is bein& supported by modern birds nest raisin& companies li9e 'en 7iet who 9now that the secrets of birds nest need to be better understood and documented and who are always tryin& to impro!e and enhance the consumers e"perience. #ead our related article$ o +istorical =erspecti!es on Traditional 4edicine in 7ietnam o o o o Traditional 4edicine Aith a 4ore 1cientific Basis Continues To =rosper in 7ietnam % Bird in the +andN The Business of =roducin& and Brin&in& to 4ar9et Birds >ests The Duture of 7ietnamese Traditional 4edicine ,e!elopment of 1cience in 7ietnam

About the AuthorN Christopher A. Iunc9el, a former senior *1 diplomat who ser!ed in many counties in %sia, is a &raduate of the *ni!ersity of <re&on and Fewis and Clar9 Faw 1chool. +e ser!ed as ,eputy Ceneral Counsel of =resident Cerald Dords =residential Clemency Board. 4r. Iunc9el is the principal and founder of Iunc9el O %ssociates, a =ortland, <re&on based consultin& company that assists businesses e"pand business opportunities in %sia. (www.business( in(asia.com) *ntil %pril of #///, 4r. Iunc9el was 4inister(Counselor of the *1 6mbassy in Bei:in&, China. 4r. Iunc9el li!ed and wor9ed in Thailand for o!er si" years. +e was the first permanently assi&ned *.1. diplomat to return to 7ietnam after the 7ietnam Aar. 5n #//0, he was awarded the *.1. ,epartment of 1tates hi&hest award for ser!ice, the ,istin&uished +onor %ward, for his contribution to impro!in& *.1.(7ietnam relations. 4r. Iunc9el is one of only two non(%mbassadors to recei!e this award in the @$$(year history of the *.1. diplomatic ser!ice.

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