Vol. 67: Saga Nutraceuticals Research Institute Turns 30

Otsuka Podcast

Read the full story with photos at:

https://www.otsuka.co.jp/en/company/globalnews/2014/1219_01.html

Nutraceuticals are one of Otsuka Pharmaceutical's core businesses, and include products such as POCARI SWEAT and Calorie Mate that were developed based on scientific principles in order to improve people's health.

The Saga Nutraceuticals Research Institute (SNRI) (left) conducts research aimed at developing new products and creating added value for products in a wide range of situations.

At the Saga Research Center, in 2014, the 30th anniversary of its founding, the Center renovated its artificial climate chamber. The chamber's temperature and humidity can be controlled with a high level of precision, and can also be used to create a low oxygen environment.

As with "exercise and nutrition," the Center's research topics are selected with an eye towards tackling various health issues. In recent years, "women's health" has been added to the list of the Center's areas of focus.

The research has found that one of the keys to these benefits are the female hormone-like effects of equol, a product of the metabolism by intestinal bacterial of daidzein, one of the components found in soy isoflavones. Through its research into equol, Otsuka Pharmaceutical became the first in the world to identify lactic acid bacteria that could be used in food products, out of those intestinal bacteria that work to produce equol. EQUELLE is a new soy-based product that helps women maintain and enhance their health, helping them lead a sparkling life during and after the menopausal transition.

Major Research Results Reported to Date:

?Recovery of plasma volume through the consumption of ion drinks when dehydrated ?Effects on the intestinal environment of ingesting beverages containing dietary fiber ?Maintaining performance by taking BCAA before exercise ?Water replenishment during long airplane flights ?Effects of a balanced diet on brain function ?The discovery of equol-producing bacteria, and the effects of equal on menopausal women

Otsuka Pharmaceutical will continue to conduct cutting-edge research into water and nutrition replenishment in the course of people's daily activities in order to formulate new proposals that can contribute to improved health.

Since its inception in 1984, the Saga Research Center has produced a number of products based on novel concepts and information, including EQUELLE, energen, and FIBE-MINI.

For more than 30 years, the Saga Research Center has been conducting innovative research with the goal of improving people's health and providing information to people around the world.

When the Saga Research Center, which was Japan's first clinical exercise and nutrition research institute, was founded, Mr. Hitoshi Hariu (right), who was involved in the development of Calorie Mate and was a pioneer in the field of "exercise and nutrition," led the effort to found the Center, and was appointed its first director.

Mr. Hariu visited universities across Japan based on the thinking that "new fields require new people," and when the Center opened in 1984, it did so with a staff of nine.

The second director of the Center was Hideaki Kohri, Ph.D. (left), a pharmaceutical researcher. Dr. Kohri instructed the Center's researchers to travel the world and experience for themselves the ways in which people in other cultures and situations get nutrition. The Center's researchers have formulated and verified various new research hypotheses.

On the Center's thirtieth anniversary, Mr. Hitoshi Hariu said, "The strength of Otsuka Pharmaceutical's products lies not only in their image, but also in scientific evidence. I would like our researchers to continue to utilize the Center's unique environment, which encourages wide-ranging research, to develop products that are useful to people around the world."

In addition, Dr. Hideaki Kohri said, "Pharmaceutical product research is performed based on when people are at rest. However, both healthy people and patients need activities according to each person's body condition. I would like the Center to take advantage of both the knowledge that is obtained in pharmaceutical research and the experience that is gained in the real world in an attempt to answer the question ‘What kind of activities we should take, when and what type of nutrition we should take?’ to continue to conduct ground-breaking research related to sports and nutrition that can contribute to people's health."