Food Biochemistry

Food Biochemistry

The values of foods are defined by three categories: nutritional function, sensory function, and health-maintenance function. Our research has been focused on health promotion and disease prevention.

• Research Summary

	Prof. NAKAMURA Yoshimasa E-mail: yossan@(okayama-u.ac.jp) Food Chemical Biology (Biological and physiological functions of food phytochemicals), Functional Mechanism and Bioavailability of Food Factors Directory of Researchers Link to homepage
	Assoc. Prof. NAKAMURA Toshiyuki E-mail: t-nakamura@(okayama-u.ac.jp) Food Chemical Biology (Biological and physiological functions of food phytochemicals), Functional Mechanism and Bioavailability of Food Factors Directory of Researchers

The major research objective is to investigate biological and physiological properties including antioxidant, anti-allergy, and anti-cancer activities as well as the chemical characteristics of non-nutrients such as polyphenols and organosulfur compounds derived from plant food items. In recent years, it has been shown that isothiocyanates (ITCs), an important and promising group of compounds that have a chemopreventive property, induce phase II drug-metabolizing enzyme up-regulation, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. We have clarified the molecular mechanism underlying antiproliferation induced by benzyl ITC, a major ITC compound isolated from papaya. The voluminous results from all these detailed investigations are published in various journals of repute.