Effect of whole soy and isoflavones daidzein on bone turnover and inflammatory markers: a 6-month double-blind, randomized controlled trial in Chinese postmenopausal women who are equol producers

Study answer

What this study found

Overall, whole soy and daidzein did not meaningfully improve bone turnover or most inflammatory markers in equol-producing Chinese postmenopausal women. Across groups, changes in the main bone markers were not significant for β-CTX (p=0.632), PINP (p=0.458), BALP (p=0.362), OST (change p=0.228), or 25(OH)D3 (change p=0.684). Inflammatory markers were also generally unchanged for IL-6, TNF-α, homocysteine, and transferrin. The main exception was hs-CRP, which decreased in the whole soy group (1.747 ± 2.041 to 1.411 ± 1.963; change p=0.022), while the daidzein group increased (1.260 ± 1.155 to…

Study & population

Six-month double-blind randomized controlled trial in Chinese postmenopausal women aged 45-71 years who were equol producers, with pre- or stage 1 hypertension.

Intervention

Whole soy arm: 40 g soy flour daily as a solid beverage for 6 months, providing 12.8 g protein and 49.8 mg total isoflavones (23.2 mg daidzein and 19.4 mg genistein, aglycone equivalents), mixed with 300 ml water or beverage.

Key limitation

The trial was limited to a specific subgroup of equol-producing Chinese postmenopausal women with pre- or stage 1 hypertension, which limits generalizability.

View full study detailsView sourceOpen PDF

Original abstract