Host: Japanese Sciety for Food Science and Technology
Name : The 72nd Annual Meeting of JSFST
Number : 72
Location : [in Japanese]
Date : August 27, 2025 - August 29, 2025
Pages 4-
Presenter IntroductionName: Taiichiro Seki, Ph.D. Affiliation: Professor, Department of Biosciences, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, Japan. Biography: Dr. Seki received his M.Sc. in Agricultural Chemistry from the Graduate School of Agriculture, Nihon University in 1986. He obtained his Ph.D. in Agriculture from the University of Tokyo in 1992. From 1994 to 1996, he conducted postdoctoral research in the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan Medical School, USA. He was appointed as a Lecturer at the College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University in 1996, promoted to Associate Professor in 2007, and became a full Professor in 2011. In 2017, he received the Japan Society of Nutrition and Food Science Award from the Japan Society of Nutrition and Food Science (JSNFS).
Since the concept of the tertiary function of foods (bioregulatory function) was proposed, foods have come to be regarded not only as sources of nutrition, but also as contributors to health promotion and disease prevention. Until the 1980s, food research was primarily focused on nutritional properties (primary function) and compositional changes during processing and storage. However, discoveries such as opioid peptides in enzymatic hydrolysates of casein, and the energy metabolism-enhancing effect of capsaicin, a pungent component of spices, suggested that foods might have the potential to regulate biological functions either latently or actively. The introduction of the concept of “lifestyle-related diseases” by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 1997 further increased interest in tertiary functions, accompanied by growing public health awareness and changes in disease structure due to extended life expectancy. Alongside these changes, the desired functions of foods have expanded from prevention of cancer, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases to include maintenance of cognitive function, musculoskeletal health, and prevention of frailty. In terms of methodology, advances in analytical technologies such as mass spectrometry, omics analyses, and imaging techniques have significantly facilitated the visualization of trace components and the elucidation of mechanisms of action for functional food components. Meanwhile, the importance of human intervention studies has increased, especially with regard to individual differences stemming from genetic background, gut microbiota, and lifestyle. These factors have led to growing attention on integrated research that connects gut environment and epigenetics, and on the emerging concept of precision nutrition. At the same time, how scientific evidence is communicated to consumers has become a critical issue.
In this lecture, we will introduce our research on the functionality of spice-derived compounds, particularly focusing on: the anti-cancer mechanisms of sulfur-containing compounds from garlic through cytoskeletal modifications1-3); cancer chemopreventive potential via regulation of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes4,5); anti-obesity effects via regulation of lipid metabolism mediated by microRNA expression6); and basic studies on the coagulation/fibrinolytic systems7-9), as well as the effects of food components on endothelial function and anti-atherosclerotic actions10). Furthermore, we will reflect on how these basic studies have developed from the cellular to organismal level and, eventually, to clinical significance, while also considering the evolution of food-function research, its social context, and changing attitudes among students and young researchers.
1) Seki T, Ariga T et al., Cancer Lett. 2000; 160: 29-35.
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