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

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Tokyo; hereinafter "Otsuka Pharmaceutical") held a briefing on the latest research into the plant-derived food ingredient "Kaempferol" in February 2026.

At the briefing, Yasutaka Ikeda, Director of Otsuka Pharmaceutical's Institute of Advanced Science, who leads this research, presented the research content alongside Afshin Beheshti, who is collaborating with the overseas joint research team, moderated by Shoko Takahashi.

【Kaempferol and its Research】

Kaempferol is a type of flavonoid produced by plants, found in cruciferous vegetables, millets, legumes, and tea leaves, and is 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 is useful in a wide range of daily situations, from exercise to rest, by improving exercise performance, increasing physical activity, and improving sleep quality.

For the production of energy, the source of life activities, "oxygen" is indispensable, along with "water" and "nutrients." However, the ability to utilize oxygen is known to change with age and lifestyle habits. Otsuka Pharmaceutical considered that the utilization of oxygen might hold the key to maintaining health and focused on the diet of high-altitude ethnic groups who achieve high performance while living in hypoxic environments at altitudes over 2,000m in Mexico and Kenya. As a result of collecting and analyzing 341 types of high-altitude ingredients from around the world, they arrived at "kaempferol." Cell tests suggested that kaempferol has the potential to efficiently utilize oxygen and promote energy production in cells placed under hypoxic conditions.

Furthermore, human trials conducted to date have yielded data such as improvements in cardiorespiratory function and autonomic nervous system indicators, increased physical activity, improved sleep quality, alleviation of weather-related pain, improved oxygen utilization efficiency during exercise, and reduced cardiorespiratory and muscle load during high-intensity exercise. To date, nine 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 & Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh

Shoko Takahashi

President and CEO, TAZ Inc.

Director & Founder, GeneQuest

Yasutaka Ikeda

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