Filipino doctor finds anti-cancer properties in soy

BACOLOD CITY ,Philippines  – A Filipino doctor who was honored as one of the outstanding Filipino-Americans in science and technology at the 2010 PhilDev awards has discovered anti-cancer properties in soy.

Dr. Alfredo Galvez, who was in Bacolod recently for a talk on Reliv International, said he has discovered the anti-cancer properties of Lunasin that is found in soy during his post-doctoral research at the University of California in Berkeley.

“Lunasin is found in the nuclei of storage cells of developing soybean seeds. Lunasin is also an active ingredient in soy that reduces bad cholesterol,” he said.

In collaboration with Soy Labs, Galvez, who is also the lead scientific advisor for Soy Labs in Mexico, said they patented the cholesterol-lowering effect of Lunasin and its novel mechanism of action.

Galvez is currently involved in research collaboration with the University of California Davis Center for Nutritional Genomics to determine the effect of Lunasin as a functional equivalent to a human tumor suppressor and the Department of Chemistry to determine molecular structure of Lunasin.

Galvez is also center specialist of the Center for Excellence for Nutritional Genomics of University of California, and an adjunct assistant professor of the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Galvez was with Soy Labs president Ryan Schmidt and Reliv Philippines managing director Jolly Gomez at a talk at the Grand Regal Hotel about Reliv International products.

Schmidt said Reliv would launch their products containing Lunasin in December or January.

Reliv International is a direct selling company that develops, manufactures and markets nutritional products that promote optimal health. Approximately 60,000 independent distributors in 15 countries sell Reliv products, he added.

Reliv was founded in 1988 by Robert and Sandy Montgomery with the mission to “Nourish Our World.”

The company is based in St. Louis in Chesterfield, Missouri, and its products are sold in 15 countries.