11/04/2026
Lunasin and Epigenetics: Transforming Aging, Healthcare, and Nutrition
For over seventy years since the discovery of DNA, scientists have been trying to identify genetic biomarkers – variations in DNA sequences within the human genome - that influence health through the food that we eat. Despite the completion of human genome sequencing, no genetic biomarkers demonstrating significant associations between nutritional components and health outcomes have been identified.
The emerging science of epigenetics is transforming our understanding of nutrition. Recent research advances indicate that nutrition can exert substantial effects on health by modulating the epigenome, which consists of chemical marks on DNA and its packaging material, histones. These marks function as regulatory mechanisms, controlling gene expression without altering DNA sequences.
Epigenetic biomarkers are specific changes to the epigenome that impact the regulation of genes in response to environmental factors. In contrast to genetic biomarkers, epigenetic biomarkers are reversible and are influenced by environmental changes such as lifestyle and dietary habits.
Lunasin represents a leading advancement in nutrition research at the intersection of nutrition, epigenetics, aging and health:
1. Lunasin is the first dietary ingredient discovered with a novel epigenetic mechanism of action – the ability to bind to specific lysine residues in histones, providing a causal mechanism for its diverse health benefits.
2. Lunasin is the only biological agent—natural or synthetic—with a U.S. patent covering its epigenetic mode of action, specifically its ability to inhibit the epigenetic biomarker, H3-Lysine 14 acetylation. H3-Lysine 14 acetylation has recently been shown to be the critical epigenetic biomarker linked to cellular aging (cellular senescence), neuroinflammation, chronic inflammation, heart disease and cancer.
3. Lunasin is the only biological agent with a high-throughput assay to evaluate bioactivity based on the inhibition of H3-Lysine 14 acetylation. The lunasin bioassay, developed two decades ago, has facilitated the extraction and formulation of lunasin-enriched soy extracts containing optimal levels of bioactive lunasin following oral administration. (see attached image)
4. Lunasin is the only nutritional ingredient dosed based on measured bioactivity rather than peptide quantity after digestion, given that the lunasin peptide is readily degraded and inactivated in the gastrointestinal tract.
5. Lunasin technology is protected by thirteen issued U.S. patents, with additional patents under review.
