Previewing the Disease Prevention Benefits of Natural Substances

Development of a Natural Product Disease Prevention Efficacy Prediction Platform
Predicting Natural Product Efficacy Using Bioinformatics
Reducing Time and Costs in Functional Food Development

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Dr. Inwook Choi's research team at the Food Functionality Research Division of the Korea Food Research Institute announced on the 17th that they have developed a platform technology called the Natural Product Efficacy Prediction System (Bio-FINE), which can predict the disease prevention efficacy of natural products using multi-omics-based bioinformatics.

This system can quickly and accurately calculate and predict the functionality of various natural product materials. By utilizing information such as gene expression composition changes caused by natural products, hairpin RNA information (shRNA) of gene markers by functionality, and patient gene big data, it can predict the improvement efficacy of natural products for 10 functionalities including immune function enhancement, antioxidant effects, gut health improvement, and body fat reduction?which account for more than 90% of individually recognized health functional food production in Korea?as well as 16 diseases such as obesity and hypertension. In particular, it can also examine the functionality of natural products mixed with 2 to 3 types.

The institute reported that after verifying accuracy on individually recognized raw materials, it accurately predicted 15 out of 18 functionalities (accuracy of 83.3%). The accuracy verification for disease improvement efficacy prediction was confirmed through computer simulation experiments on drugs with known therapeutic effects. The institute also transferred technology for two natural products predicted to have immune enhancement and liver health improvement efficacy to industry.

The institute has currently accumulated physiological activity prediction results for about 40 natural products that can be traced for origin and mass-produced, either alone or in over 2,000 combinations, and plans to open the information once a database for more than 100 natural products is completed.

Meanwhile, various natural products contain diverse bioactive components. These can be utilized to develop new therapeutics or health functional food materials. However, they require various procedures such as cell experiments and animal testing before they can be utilized. The time and cost involved act as obstacles to the high value-added food and pharmaceutical material industrialization of natural products.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.