THE WA Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR) is helping promote the lupin as a healthy food product for humans, with some more positive results gathering in the pipeline.
WAIMR centre for food and genomic medicine manager, Carolyn Williams, said her organisation currently had seven different lupin research projects on the go, all linked to the one aim of fighting the "epidemics" of diabetes and obesity.
The project is an extensive industry collaboration that combines the resources of WA's four universities, Murdoch, Curtin, UWA and Edith Cowan, and the CSIRO, Agriculture and Food Department, Health Department, hospitals and other medical research organisations.
Ms Williams is overseeing the project that also links with grower groups like CBH, Coorow Seeds and Irwin Valley.
Irwin Valley is supplying lupin flour for the clinical trials.
The lupin research project is entering a critical timeframe, having reached the final year of a four-year term.
Ms Williams said the results had so far been encouraging.
"What these trials have shown so far is that the people who are eating the lupin flour foods have experienced reduced blood pressure," she said.
"There will be more data released in the lead-up to the project's deadline at the end of June, 2010.