[Topics] Prof. Toshiro Matsui was awarded the 2024 Society Award of the Japan Society of Nutrition and Food Science!
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Professor Matsui was awarded the 2024 Society Award of the Japan Society of Nutrition and Food Science.
The awarded research achievement is "Research on Absorption and Physiological Functions of Low Molecular Weight Peptides".
The Japan Society of Nutrition and Food Science Award
The Japan Society of Nutrition and Food Science is an academic research organization that aims to contribute to the advancement and dissemination of nutritional science and food science, and to the development of science in Japan and the promotion of the health of the nation by presenting research, exchanging knowledge, and providing information on the scientific principles and applications of nutritional science and food science.
The Society Awards are given to researchers who have made outstanding achievements in basic or applied fields related to nutritional science or food science.
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SUMMARY
It is now clear that food has not only the function of supplying energy to maintain vital activities, but also the function of maintaining health (biological regulation function or homeostasis maintenance function). From this point of view, we have conducted food science research and have clarified that peptides, which are food proteolysis products, have hypertension-preventive effects, leading to their approval as a Food for Specified Health Use (Tokuho).
In addition to demonstrating that peptides with blood pressure-lowering effects have sufficient bioavailability at the bio-level, we have also shown that the site of action is blood vessels, and that peptides improve vascular resistance.
In recent years, we have also been studying the effects of peptide intake on other diseases, such as the improvement of Alzheimer's disease.
BENEFIT
The decline of science in Japan has been pointed out from many quarters, but food science research is one of the fields that has led the world. In order to accelerate the development of this field in the future, it is necessary to promote the concept of food function research based on bioavailability, which we believe is an important perspective for the future (next generation) of food science research. It is hoped that our efforts to date will help in this regard.
Comments from the Award Winners
The variety of peptides is infinite. Also, the combinations of foods (food components) are also infinite. In other words, food science is infinite. We hope you will be interested in food science research, which is full of dreams and hardships.