Scientific Program (Oral Abstracts) | Poster Abstracts | Speaker List
SECOND INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
ON THE ROLE OF SOY
IN PREVENTING AND TREATING CHRONIC DISEASESeptember 15-18, 1996
Brussells, Belgium
SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM
(Oral Abstracts)Hormonal effects of Soy
Postmenopausal StudiesThe Potential Use of a Dietary Soy Supplement as a Post-Menopausal Hormone Replacement Therapy.
Gregory L. Burke, M.D., M.S.
Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.Traditional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) reduces the cardiovascular and osteoporosis disease burden and effectively controls vasomotor symptoms in post-menopausal women. Despite these beneficial effects, questions remain about the risk/benefit ratio of HRT use due to the potentially increased risk of reproductive cancers (breast and endometrium). Alternative strategies for HRT such as dietary soy (or isoflavone) intake have great public health potential, given that 85% of post-menopausal U.S. women currently do not use any form of HRT. In addition, ecologic data suggest that substantial differences in chronic disease rates exist between areas with high versus low intakes of dietary soy.
The potential for dietary soy supplementation to serve as an alternative to HRT has been documented in both animal studies and in a few human clinical trials. Early evidence suggests that women with vasomotor symptoms have excellent adherence to soy protein supplementation regimens. In a short-term, double-blinded crossover clinical trial of 51 peri-menopausal women (6 week treatment periods), slight improvements in reported menopausal symptoms and health-related quality of life was observed in women consuming a soy protein isolate supplement compared to an isocaloric carbohydrate placebo supplement. In addition, improvements were observed in lipids/lipoproteins and blood pressure levels in this normocholesterolemic and normotensive sample of women. Current data from human and animal studies suggest that soy protein supplementation does not appear to be associated with other "traditional HRT" related outcomes, such as hypertriglyceridemia, changes in the breast and endometrium. Longer term and larger studies are needed to better address the issue of potential adverse outcomes associated with isoflavone intake.
These data in combination with known differences in chronic disease burden across countries with substantial differences in soy consumption lend credence to the need to further explore a soy-based alternative to HRT.
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