DSM award for isoflavone pioneer

DSM Nutritional Products - formerly Roche Vitamins - on Friday awarded for the first time its 'International award for innovative research in human nutrition' worth €25,000 to Dr Kenneth D.R. Setchell for his pioneering work in the field of isoflavone research.

Emmo Meijer and Bob Hartmayer, CTO and COO, respectively, of DSM Nutritional Products (DNP) presented the award at a ceremony during the ninth European Nutrition Conference in Rome, Italy, on 3 October 2003.

The International Award for Innovative Research in Human Nutrition is given in recognition of innovative research in the nutrition field, with emphasis on naturally occurring dietary bioactive compounds promoting human health. It was established by Roche Vitamins, which on 1 October 2003 became DSM Nutritional Products, to encourage and recognise excellence in scientists engaged in significant research that broadens the understanding of the role of nutrition in human health.

Dr Setchell, professor of paediatrics at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio in the US, is considered a pioneer in the field of isoflavone research. According to DNP, he has discovered a number of groundbreaking results, which form the key to the understanding of phytoestrogens in the human body. Among his accomplishments he was the first to show that glycosides - contained in soya - and aglycons - genistein - cross the enterocyte by a similar mechanism.

DNP​ also described how Dr Setchell and his group were the first to identify lignans and isoflavones in human urine and blood, and his studies went on to show that flaxseed and soy protein are the richest dietary sources of these two classes of bioactive ingredients. His proposals that these dietary plant oestrogens may be beneficial in the prevention of many hormone-dependent diseases and his supporting studies are said to have led to a widespread interest in phytoestrogens and the use of flax and soybeans as functional foods.

His group is internationally recognised as one of the leaders in the field of phytoestrogen research, while he himself is said to be focused on the role that early dietary exposure to phytoestrogens may play in preventing hormone-related diseases later in life.