For the study, researchers gave 200 women in early menopause a daily supplement containing soy protein with 66mg of isoflavones or a supplement with soy protein alone for six months, The Economic Times reported.
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Researchers wanted to see if such substances that mimic the estrogen hormone would have any impact on bone health, and in order to test this hypothesis they measured the concentrations of two proteins in the blood: βCTX and P1NP.
Therefore, thanks to these beneficial phytoestrogens, they faced lower risk of developing osteoporosis, and of suffering from debilitating fractures. In women, bone loss occurs most quickly in the years immediately after menopause because they produce less of the sex hormone estrogen, which protects against bone loss. The researchers additionally noticed that these volunteers had a lower danger of creating cardiovascular infection than the bunch of women who took just soy protein.
Abstract #0120. Presented at: Society for Endocrinology Annual Conference; November 2-4, 2015; Edinburgh, Scotland. A woman can lose up to 20 percent of bone density during the first five to seven years following menopause.
Getting plenty of soy protein from food, or taking soy supplements, could help protect older women from osteoporosis, early results from a new study suggest.
These compounds are a class of phytoestrogens, which means that they cause estrogenic effects, and are derived from plants, such as soybeans, green beans, mung beans, chickpeas or peanuts. The doctor is of opinion that supplementing our diet with the required amount of isoflavones can bring a significant drop in the number of women facing osteoporosis.
He explains that the 66 mg of isoflavone in the daily supplements that the women took is about the same as that consumed in an oriental diet, which is rich is soybean foods. However, 80 percent of those affected are women because of the bodily changes associated with menopause.
“The actions of soy appear to mimic that of conventional osteoporosis drug”, he added.
“In contrast, we only get around 2 to 16mg of isoflavone with the average Western diet”.
Previous research has shown that other factors contributing to a lowered risk of bone fracture include regular physical exercise, as well as sun exposure and consumption of foods rich in vitamin D and calcium.
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The study results showed that women on the soy diet and isoflavones showed significantly lower levels of βCTX than just the soy diet alone-suggesting that their rate of bone loss was slowing, lowering their risk of osteoporosis.
