Korea Food Research Institute's Ahn Ji-yun wins 2026 Nutrition Research Grant

The Korea Food Research Institute announced that Ahn Ji-yun, head of its Aging Research Division, has been selected as a recipient of the 2026 Nutrition Research Grant, a program administered by global nutrition, health and beauty company dsm-firmenich.

The Nutrition Research Grant is a research support program established to advance nutrition and health science research across the Asia-Pacific region. Five projects were selected this year to promote healthy longevity research in the region.

Ahn's team is conducting research to determine how vitamin D status in older adults affects systemic and muscular aging. The study focuses on analyzing blood and muscle tissue samples from the same individuals simultaneously to assess whether blood tests alone can predict the actual aging state of muscle. To that end, the team plans to use DNA methylation-based biological clocks — known as aging clocks — to compare the degree of aging in the whole body and skeletal muscle, and to comprehensively analyze the relationship between blood vitamin D levels and indicators of muscle function.

The award is seen as a demonstration of the international competitiveness of the institute's research into food- and nutrition-based approaches to healthy longevity.

"This research goes beyond looking at the relationship between vitamin D and muscle health through simple clinical indicators," Ahn said. "By analyzing biological aging markers in both blood and skeletal muscle together, we aim to build a nutritional evidence base for extending healthy longevity." She added that the recognition would motivate her team to produce meaningful results contributing to food- and nutrition-based strategies for maintaining muscle function and promoting healthy aging in older adults.