Recently, Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh has approved the Ta Quang Buu Prize for three scientists. The two main prizes are awarded to Tran Dinh Phong, Dr. Sc. (Hanoi University of Science and Technology of Hanoi, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology) and Associate Professor, Doctor Pham Van Hung (International University, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City). The Prize for Young Scientist is for Dr. Do Quoc Tuan (Hanoi University of Science, Vietnam National University of Hanoi).
The article “In vitro digestibility and in vivo glucose response of native and physically modified rice starches varying amylose contents” authored by Dr. Hung et al. was published on Food Chemistry – a top rated scientific journal in Biology – Agriculture, with the rank of 9/273 in journals for food technology by SCIMAGO.
The article is the results of a project funded by National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) in 2013-2015. It is considered to be the premise for application of production of low glucose response food for patients with diabetes, obesity, and some other chronic diseases.
Dr. Pham Van Hung said that in 2002, he came to Japan as a Ph.D candidate at Osaka Prefecture University (Japan), began to approach new knowledge on indigestible starch, which does not reveal sugar while being consumed. This is a new approach in Vietnam, where obesity and diabetes are quite popular.
Two years later, he started to have many articles on international journal about indigestible starch, however, mostly on wheat starch. Back to Vietnam, he would like to have a similar research on rice starch which could help understanding the principle of using rice starch in cases of obesity and diabetes.
Rice starch could be easily metabolized into sugar, which is one of the main cause for obesity and diabetes. However, rice is the main and popular food in Vietnamese daily diet, which is not healthy for diabetes patients.
In the research, converting protocols were applied in order to increase indigestible starch content. There are many kind of rice in Vietnam, with plenty of structures and ingredients, so 5 most popular types of rice were chosen to be tested.
“We question on the interaction between starch grain and digestibility and sugar productivity. We had found the relationship between amylose content and starch molecular structure, and discover the anti-hydrolytic metabolism of enzymes appearing in human’s digestive system”, said Dr. Hung.
From those results, the authors suggested an effective solution to decrease sugar content of rice starches. They use the physical conversion to produce rice with average and low sugar content.
According to Dr. Hung, from these results, biotechnologists could select rice breeds with indigestible starch. Meanwhile, food technologist could use physically modified starches to produce bread, vermicelli, noodles, biscuits, etc. which converts into less sugar content for patients with diabetes and obesity.
The 44 year old associate professor also shared a new approach to the research: Instead of isolation of starch to study on the mechanism, rice would be used for conversion to have products with low sugar content.
In the future, he would continue researching on indigestible starches in other sources such as sweet potatoes, cassava, potatoes, beans, and application in production of food with low sugar content.
Hung graduated as an engineer in Food technology in Hanoi Polytechnique University of school year 1993-1998. He started to be a lecturer and he also achieved his Master of Science in the university. From 2002 to 2005, he came to Japan as a doctoral candidate, and after achieving the Ph.D, he continued with many years as post-doctoral researcher in Japan and Canada.
In 2009, he came back to Vietnam and began working at International University. He was promoted to the Head of the Department of Food technology. He achieved Associate Professor rank in 2014.
Hung is the first author of 40 papers in ISI journals and 30 papers in other scientific international and national journal. He has supervised 10 M.Sc students and 3 Ph.D candidates, all towards indigestible starch.
Japan Alumni of Vietnam (JAV) would like to congratulate Associate professor, Dr. Pham Van Hung with the precious prize, and wishes him more achievement in the future.
This year, NAFOSTED received 54 candidate profiles for Ta Quang Buu prize. The foundation’s specialized scientific councils has discussed to evaluate the profiles and deputed 9 profile to the Ta Quang Buu Prize General Council of 2018.