Otsuka Pharmaceutical Holds Latest Research Briefing on Plant-Derived Food Ingredient "Kaempferol"

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, hereinafter "Otsuka Pharmaceutical") held its latest research briefing on the plant-derived food ingredient "Kaempferol" in February 2026.

At the briefing, Yasutaka Ikeda, Director of Otsuka Pharmaceutical's Advanced Science Research Institute, who leads this research, introduced the research content together with Afshin Beheshti, who collaborates with an overseas joint research team, and under the moderation of Shoko Takahashi.

【Kaempferol and its Research】

Kaempferol is a type of flavonoid produced by plants, found in cruciferous vegetables, grains, legumes, and tea leaves, but particularly abundant in horseradish leaves. Otsuka Pharmaceutical has revealed that Kaempferol acts on cellular mitochondria, enhancing energy production efficiency. Furthermore, through human trials, it has been confirmed that Kaempferol shows usefulness in a wide range of daily scenarios, from exercise to rest, by improving exercise performance, increasing physical activity, and enhancing sleep quality.

For the production of energy, the source of life activities, "water," "nutrients," and "oxygen" are indispensable. However, the ability to utilize oxygen is known to change with age and lifestyle. Otsuka Pharmaceutical hypothesized that the utilization of oxygen might hold the key to maintaining health and focused on the diet of high-altitude ethnic groups who live in low-oxygen environments over 2000m in Mexico and Kenya but still exhibit high performance. As a result of collecting and analyzing 341 types of high-altitude ingredients from around the world, they arrived at "Kaempferol." In cell tests, Kaempferol was suggested to have the potential to induce cells in a low-oxygen environment to efficiently utilize oxygen and enhance energy production.

Furthermore, data from human trials conducted so far include improvements in indicators related to cardiopulmonary function and autonomic nerves, increased physical activity and improved sleep quality, alleviation of weather-related pain, improved oxygen utilization efficiency during exercise, and reduced cardiopulmonary and muscle load during high-intensity exercise. To date, 9 papers, including basic research, have been accepted.

【Speaker Profiles】

Afshin Beheshti

Director, Space Biosciences Center /

Associate Director, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine /

Professor of Surgery, Professor of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh

Shoko Takahashi

CEO, TAZ Inc.

Director and Founder, Genequest

Yasutaka Ikeda

Director, Advanced Science Research Institute, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.