On June 15, Nature the authoritative scientific journal published a supplement on nutrition researches in China for the first time, and released an interview article EXPLORING NEW FRONTIERS IN HEALTH MANAGEMENT THROUGH NUTRITION RESEARCH, highlighted several cutting-edge research results of BYHEALTH R&D innovations on scientific nutrition, including PCC1 and patented probiotics.
Nature the global scientific journal, is dedicated to reporting on the most significant scientific discoveries and breakthroughs in life science, natural science, clinical medicine, physical chemistry. Nature Spotlight is an independently edited supplement which focus on particularly intriguing regional science topics. This issue focuses on nutrition researches in China and analyzes how personalized medicine, diet, and medical research can be used to relieve the stress imposed aging population in China on the country's healthcare system.
Nature observed that with an aging population and increasing health awareness, the global focus of healthcare systems is shifting from treatment to prevention and overall wellness. This emphasis on preventative care is spurring a new wave of research into nutrition and dietary supplements.
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It found that BYHEALTH, a company that upholds the strategy of “science-based nutrition” in China, is researching the potential benefits of nutritional supplements. Through its internal team of scientists and by forging collaborations, BYHEALTH aims to better understand the mechanisms driving human health and ageing and the role that nutrition plays. In this regard, Nature interviewed Shuisheng Liang, vice chairman of BYHEALTH and president of the BYHEALTH Institute of Nutrition and Health.
As a leader in the global nutrition industry, BYHEALTH has continuously promoted scientific research on nutrition and health. "Consumers have developed diverse needs for dietary supplements and are increasingly basing their decisions on scientific evidence," says Liang, "Technology breakthrough is key to the growth of the entire health industry, and only those companies that constantly explore the unknown and innovate can prosper in the long run.”
"The company is striving to explore more aspects of health, including precision nutrition and anti-ageing, both emerging areas of research that are gaining momentum. ” the article states. "BYHEALTH’s research mainly focuses on exploring the potential for nutritional supplements to have an impact on ageing, the gut microbiome, brain functions, sports-related fitness, and cardiovascular health. This research involves developing novel ingredients, functions and technologies.”
BYHEALTH has established a collaborative research, development, and innovation system with leading scientific research forces such as several well-known universities and reputable scientific research institutions worldwide; it has established collaborations to study precision nutrition, nutritional metabolomics and other health fields with the European Nutrigenomics Organization, the Institute at the University of Aberdeen in the UK, and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research; it has teamed up with the Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to create a research center focused on aging and nutrition; it has established a research center with the Chinese Association of Geriatric Research, which focused on nutrition intervention, prevention and control for elderly people with chronic diseases; it has set up a precision nutrition research unit at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, and conducted in-depth basic and applied research with many universities and scientific research institutions in many key areas such as cardiovascular health, liver health, metabolic health, and sports health.
As of December 2022, BYHEALTH has obtained 335 patents, including 96 invention patents for raw materials and formulas. Over the past decade, the Nutrition Scientific Research Foundation of BYHEALTH has more than 80 projects at academic institutions and healthcare facilities. In the past three years, BYHEALTH has participated in more than 100 industry-university-research cooperation projects. And in the study of aging-related cells, animals, and populations, BYHEALTH has conducted more than ten mechanism studies related to "anti-aging", and many research results have attracted great attention.
PCC1 - A major achievement in the screening of natural anti-aging substances and the research of mechanisms
In 2021, a blockbuster paper titled "The flavonoid procyanidin C1 has senotherapeutic activity and increases lifespan in mice” was published in Nature Metabolism and quickly sparked heated discussions in the global nutrition community. The study started from examining the effective intervention methods for aging and aging-related diseases, screened a library of natural products, and found that grape seed extract (GSE) can kill senescent cells, while its component procyanidin C1 (PCC1) can selectively induce apoptosis of senescent cells.
As the main participants of the study，BYHEALTH has worked with Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health of CAS, Mayo Clinic, Buck Institute for Research on Aging, and other professional scientific research institutions on this project. Following the screening of almost 1,000 natural products, 46 plant-derived extracts, including various grape seed extracts, were discovered. Ultimately, it was discovered that PCC1 (procyanidin C1), a component of a specific grape seed extract, could "precisely eliminate senescent cells". The aging mice that received PCC1 administration alone had a 64.2% longer median post-treatment lifespan. Compared to the combined use of dasatinib and quercetin ("D+Q"), an anti-aging star combination", PCC1 can selectively, efficiently, and safely clear senescent cells without the limitations of cell type dependency, high toxicity in non-senescent cells and low efficiency against senescent cells.
The health industry has hailed this finding as "a new milestone in the anti-aging," and it is anticipated that PCC1 will one day be used to slow down the aging process and manage diseases associated with aging.
Patented strain LPB27 - development of new raw materials with independent intellectual property rights
The concept of probiotics is becoming more widely known and accepted by consumers as a result of increased consumer health awareness and ongoing category education. It has also emerged as one of the most promising functional food ingredients, and the probiotic category is entering a period of rapid expansion. Nature learned that BYHEALTH has been paying attention to probiotics, a field with potential for rapid development, and has been engaging in whole-chain technological research for years, including strain library building, high-quality strain screening, functional evalsuation, mechanism research, evidence-based research, key technologies for industrialization, and testing technologies and standards. BYHEALTH has been developing new functional strains in the direction of intestinal health, metabolic health, immune health, and oral health, and has continuously improved core technology R&D capabilities, and accelerated the innovation process to develop high-quality functional strains and products for more diverse populations and life cycles.
According to reports, BYHEALTH spent seven years working with researchers from Sichuan University to develop a local probiotic strain in China. They developed a probiotic pool, screened the properties of all the bacteria, and tested them for safety and effects in animals. The result is a proprietary lactobacillus strain called LPB271 . In vivo and ex vivo studies suggested that the strain can resist stomach acid and bile salt, and that it can easily colonize in the intestinal tract.
The first personalized conceptual vitamin product - personalized product development
Precision nutrition focuses on personal dietary intake research. The personalized study requires a comprehensive understanding of a person’s unique characteristics, including age, genetics, gut microbiome, lifestyle habits, and current health conditions. To further explore the feasibility of precision nutrition, BYHEALTH, together with the Rowett Institute at the University of Aberdeen in the UK, BASF in Germany, and other world-renowned scientific research institutions and enterprises, carried out researches on the detection of dry blood spot vitamins, minerals, and trace elements, independently built a fully automatic online dry blood spot analysis center, developed the personalized vitamin production equipment enabled with core algorithms, and formed a complete closed loop of "detection - individualized intervention - retest" for the first time, conducted precise analysis and matching based on individual differences, customized 1-1 personalized nutrition plan to promote the application and transformation of precision nutrition.
“BYHEALTH hopes to help researchers achieve precision nutrition,” Liang says. “We partner with academics on basic research and work with suppliers of raw materials to translate the findings into possible products.” says Liang.
Nutritional research is accelerating at BYHEALTH. In 2022, the company’s chairman, Yunchao Liang, laid out a research-based strategy, to see the company rapidly become one of the world’s most innovative and technological dietary supplement firms. In the future, BYHEALTH will continue to strengthen the forward-looking research in anti-aging and precision nutrition, including precision nutrition intervention, homeostasis health, and other cutting-edge researches. BYHEALTH aims to improve human’s health and quality of life with science-based nutrition, and facilitating the journey to the singularity of human life.
