Source: Diabetes Care  |  Posted 9 years ago

Four-week supplementation with soy isoflavone may have beneficial effects on bone metabolism and on serum lipids in perimenopausal women.

These effects could have the potential to reduce risks of postmenopausal osteoporosis and of cardiovascular diseases in such women, say researchers at Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.

Twenty-three healthy perimenopausal women were assigned randomly to either isoflavone or placebo groups. The isoflavone group (n=12) received daily capsules of soy isoflavone extract (61.8 mg of isoflavones) and the placebo group (n=11) received daily placebo capsules for four weeks.

Urinary excretion of isoflavone was measured at baseline and at weeks two and four. Urinary excretion of pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline, bone stiffness and levels of serum cholesterol, triglyceride and cholesterol fractions were measured at baseline and at week four.

Urinary isoflavone excretion -- primarily daidzein -- was increased at weeks two and four in the isoflavone group compared to the placebo group. Excretion of bone resorption markers was reduced significantly in the isoflavone group, as was total serum cholesterol and low-density lipid cholesterol. Other serum biochemical parameters were not changed in either group.