Professor Baek (Department of Food& Nutrition) was chosen as the Excellent Results of Basic Researchrecipient for 2012 (main result of the R&D Project of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology) hosted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and organized by the National Research Foundation of Korea.

The Excellent Result of Basic Research Project is about discovering and promoting superior research results which will have a great ripple effect on the academic and socioeconomic fields.It was developed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to promote people’s interest, understanding and desire regarding research development projects.

The initial stages were conducted by the National Research Foundation of Korea based on the superiority of collecting examples and selection assessment, and then theMinistry of Education, Science and Technology confirmed the basic establishing plan and superior results. Then final 50 were announced based on basic research, humanities and social science and the main results of the national policy research. Among 446 examples, 91 were first recommended, and then 50 were finally selected.



Professor Baek’s work is a supportive work for researchers in the life science field and it’s about gene research discoveries related to Korean’s alcohol consumption. This study is the world’s first work where relationships between alcohol consumption and dielectric information were announced.

Among recipients of the cohort study based in the Ansan and Ansung communities, 2,834 maledrinker’s dielectric information was used to find genes related to usual alcohol consumption and substantiated that it is not only related to Korean’s alcohol consumption but that it is more connected to alcoholism and facial flushing response.  
Through this study, the development of an index predicting the risks of alcoholism or heavy drinking is possible and early diagnosis will projectthe high risk group before alcoholism develops.

Also, according to personal gene information, studies and developments about foods helping hangovers after drinking as well as preventing alcoholism and related diseases will help to secure national competiveness of the nutrigenomics research field.
Professor Baek’s team said that in the future they will study deeply about how genes related to Korean’s drinking consumption are related with occurring diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disorders and liver disorders, and how the genes interact withlifestyle, dietary intake and environmental factors.

Afterthe Excellent Achievement Certification Ceremony, examples of the studying field will be held through special exhibitions in 4 Zones (Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju) to attract people’s interests and promote understanding.  

Professor Baek got media attention with his study published last May, which showed the relationship of the ingestion of beans and tofu to cardiovascular disorders and morality decreasing.