Affiliations: Laboratory of Nutritional Science, Department of
Applied Bioscience, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan | Laboratory of Nutritional Science, Department of
Applied Bioscience, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Atomi Junior College,
Tokyo, Japan | Laboratory of Nutritional Science, Department of
Applied Bioscience, Tokyo University of Agriculture, MC Medical, Inc., Tokyo,
Japan
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Shaw Watanabe, Tokyo University of
Agriculture, Sakuragaoka 1-1-1, Setagaya, Tokyo 156-8502, Japan. Tel.: +81 3
5477 2670; Fax: +81 3 5477 2670; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: A double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study on the effects of
40~mg/d isoflavone supplements was carried out by 58 climacteric Japanese
women. A questionnaire and an interview concerning climacteric symptoms, health
status, dietary and exercise habit, and medical history were carried out, and
the physical check-up and biochemical tests including sex-hormone analysis were
made at baseline and after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment. Urinary isoflavones were
separately measured from the frozen samples. Isoflavone treatment did not cause any adverse effects on
anthropometric measures or blood chemistry. Urinary deoxypyridinoline, a marker
of bone resorption decreased significantly with isoflavone treatment. This
tendency was remarkable among equol producers. Plasma osteocalcin and bone
mineral density did not change by the four-weeks treatment. As for climacteric
symptoms, hot flash decreased significantly. Systolic and diastolic blood
pressure of hypertensive participants decreased significantly after isoflavone
treatment compared with baseline and the placebo treatment. Isoflavone supplementation offers benefits to reduce effectively on
bone resorption enhanced by menopause. The treatment also showed an improvement
of climacteric hot flash and hypertension. Equol producers showed better
results.
Keywords: isoflavones, equol, bone density, climacteric symptoms, intervention study
Journal: BioFactors, vol. 22, no. 1-4, pp. 221-228, 2004
