In 1979, Fuji Oil established the Soy Protein Nutritional Research Committee to promote research on soy protein, and began providing financial subsidies to sponsor nutrition and food science research. In 1997, the Fuji Foundation for Protein Research (under the jurisdiction of Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) was founded to carry on the work of the Soy Protein Nutritional Research Committee and provide financial assistance to universities and research institutions for conducting studies in "nutrition, health, and medicine," "food science and food processing technology for enhancing properties such as texture and flavor," "component cultivation research (including bioscience)," and other related areas. Since 1979, almost 800 such studies have been subsidized. One recent important finding resulting from this research revealed that the consumption of soy protein promotes the body's secretion of adiponectin, which functions to improve metabolic syndrome.