[Life Chapter 3 Companies] Pulmuone Launches Brain Health Functional Product After 20 Years of Research

Kang Jeong-il, Director of Health Life RTC Center, Pulmuone Technology Institute

Life Act 3 Interview_Kang Jeong-il, Head of Pulmuone Technology Institute Health Life RTC Center. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Even in an era overflowing with food, there exists a group facing nutritional imbalance issues: the elderly. It is not a matter of cost. As natural aging weakens teeth, digestive functions, and bowel movements, securing nutrients through food becomes difficult, leading to various illnesses. Pulmuone, a leading domestic food company, recognized that it is hard to overlook the nutritional imbalance problems among the elderly. Therefore, they launched a separate lineup of ‘elder-friendly food products’ that are easy for seniors to consume, as well as health functional products that help improve cognitive decline issues in the elderly.

‘Brain Care Neuron,’ a health functional food product released by Pulmuone in April, is the culmination of about 20 years of research. Pulmuone’s R&D center, Pulmuone Institute of Technology, saw great potential in the ‘Hericium erinaceus’ mushroom, which contains substances that can enhance human cognitive abilities, and devoted many years to research. Although it cannot cure dementia, the goal is to help as many elderly people as possible improve their cognitive abilities before developing dementia. After over 20 years of research, Pulmuone confirmed meaningful results showing that taking this supplement for about two weeks improves memory and executive function.

On May 16, Asia Economy met with Kang Jeong-il (54), head of the Health Life RTC (Research & Technology Center) at Pulmuone Institute of Technology, who developed ‘Brain Care Neuron.’ Kang, who majored in Food and Nutrition at Seoul National University, has spent nearly 30 years at Pulmuone. From the early stages of product development, he traveled repeatedly to countries like China to secure raw materials and dedicated about 20 years to developing nutritional products that can improve cognitive issues. He said, “It is rare for a company to wait 20 years, but because meaningful experimental results were consistently discovered over those 20 years, it was difficult to give up on making products with good raw materials.”

He emphasized, “Pulmuone, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year, has been sincere about healthy foods and ingredients since its founding. Pulmuone was also the first to introduce the concept of organic farming from developed countries.” Pulmuone has focused on creating healthy foods and health supplements using enzymes found in organic vegetables, brown rice, and Job’s tears. He said, “Since my school days, I have been curious about whether externally introduced substances produce results through various metabolic processes in the human body. At Pulmuone, I found it rewarding to conduct research on nutritional issues encompassing both general foods and health functional foods.”

The following is a Q&A.

- What kind of work does Pulmuone’s research center do?

▲ Pulmuone Institute of Technology, Pulmuone’s R&D center, conducts research for Pulmuone’s health food business and supports research tasks for major company-wide projects. It also supports research related to food production familiar to consumers. Among these, I am in charge of research in the health functional food sector.

- I understand there is growing interest in cognitive decline due to aging.

▲ That’s correct. Pulmuone Institute of Technology has been researching substances that help improve cognitive decline caused by aging for 20 years. In particular, we focused on activating human nerve cells using mushrooms among natural substances. While such research was active in Japan, it was not so in Korea. Pulmuone was the first to obtain meaningful experimental results showing that ‘Hericium erinaceus’ contains substances that can activate human nerve cells.

- Are the results actually significant?

▲ We conducted both animal experiments and human clinical trials and obtained meaningful results. Together with Ewha Womans University Brain Convergence Science Institute, we conducted experiments on individuals with mild cognitive impairment due to aging. The results showed that consuming ‘Neuron Hericium erinaceus enzyme hydrolysate extract’ for eight weeks improved memory loss symptoms and short-term memory. The health functional product using this extract is ‘Brain Care Neuron,’ launched last April. It is the fruit of 20 years of effort. In an aging society, most people fear mental health decline due to aging. Pulmuone aims to contribute to dementia prevention in seniors by supplying brain-healthy products.

- Twenty years is quite a long time.

▲ Indeed. It is rare for a company to wait 20 years. We started research at the early stage when the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s experimental guidelines were just being established. Pulmuone is a large company built on strong consumer trust. We always keep in mind that losing the public’s trust would be difficult to recover from, unlike other companies. With a strong sense of responsibility that the company cannot exist if trust is broken even slightly, we had to conduct long-term research and development to obtain accurate data.

- Then why Hericium erinaceus?

▲ Mushrooms can be seen as a type of fungus, but Hericium erinaceus is a somewhat special material. It is not a single fungus but requires two symbiotic fungi. In the past, it was a luxury food only eaten by the Chinese royal family. As a food company, Pulmuone has long been interested in soybeans, tofu, and medicinal mushrooms, and it was well known that mushrooms contain many beneficial substances. Among dozens of mushrooms, Hericium erinaceus was the one where meaningful substances were discovered. Repeated experiments consistently yielded meaningful results, so we could not give up on product development.

- Why has Pulmuone devoted such long efforts to improving cognitive issues in the elderly?

▲ The elderly belong to a vulnerable group. They are a group where nutritional imbalance due to diet can worsen, so Pulmuone has great interest. To prevent not only cognitive decline but also elderly diseases, Pulmuone was the first in Korea to launch elder-friendly food products. We have a separate category called ‘elder-friendly food products’ in our lineup. As people age, their teeth weaken and digestive ability declines, making nutritional supplementation difficult. These foods help intake. Although they look like regular foods, they contain ingredients that help smooth digestion or promote bowel movements. Pulmuone has been considering its role in an aging society.

Life Act 3 Interview_Kang Jeong-il, Center Director of Pulmuone Technology Institute. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

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