Ingredient supplier dsm-firmenich will award a total of €250,000 through grants to five researchers from the Asia-Pacific region. Each recipient will receive €50,000 to support 18 months of research aimed at advancing the scientific understanding of gut health.

The research grant is intended to address research gaps on nutrition among the region’s populations.

The grant is centered on the theme of “health from the gut across the human lifespan,” highlighting a growing recognition of gut health as critical to overall well-being. The company called for proposals to study human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), probiotics, and postbiotics in segments such as early life nutrition, adult nutrition, and healthy aging.

The nutrition grant recipients were selected through an evaluation process led by an international panel of experts in the gut microbiome field. Submissions came from nine different companies in the Asia-Pacific region, and the panel selected the five proposals with the strongest scientific merit, potential to address critical health issues in the region, and close alignment with the year’s theme.

“We were very impressed with the quality and depth of submissions we received,” said Anneleen Spooren, senior vice president of innovation, R&D and regulatory at dsm-firmenich’s health, nutrition, and care business. “Applications came in from nine different countries across the Asia-Pacific region and we engaged two key opinion leaders in microbiome and clinical nutrition to select the top five projects. We are excited to work closely with these researchers to uncover how different biotics can modulate the gut microbiome and to expand our knowledge of the microbiome-health relationship.”

The five nutrition research grant recipients were:

• Bahrul Fikri, assistant professor at Hasanuddin University in Indonesia, who is conducting the observational study, “HMOs in Breastmilk and their Relation to Gut Bifidobacterium, Vitamin D, and Immune Modulation in Infants.”

• Chong Chun Wie, associate professor at Monash Univsersity in Malaysia, who is conducting a randomized controlled trial, “Assessing the Combination Effect of Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) and Probiotics on an Overweight Cohort.”

• Jeremy Lim, associate professor at the University of Singapore, for the pre-clinical study “Identification of Postbiotics and Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) that Improve Gut Microbiome and Host Health in Asian Adults.”

• Ji-Yeon Kim professor at Seoul National University of Science & Technology, for the animal model study, “Postbiotics and Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) as a Modulator of Cellular Senescence by Enhancing Gut Barrier Function.”

• Yongsoon Park, professor at Hanyang University in South Korea, for the randomized controlled trial “Effects of Postbiotics on Mood Disorders in Korean Adults.”

“At dsm-firmenich, we are deeply committed to delivering science-backed solutions that elevate preventive health and address region-specific challenges,” said Tina Low, senior vice president of health, nutrition, and care Asia-Pacific at dsm-firmenich. “The Nutrition Research Grant embodies our mission of ‘together elevating health’ by fostering collaboration with the scientific community to advance gut health research relevant to the unique lifestyles and diets of Asia-Pacific populations. Understanding the effects of our health-from-the-gut ingredients in this diverse region is critical to developing more tailored and efficacious solutions across life stages.”