SOY AND ISOFLAVONES

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Osteoporosis is a disease that primarily affects older women in the United States. Epidemiological studies report decreased hip fracture incidence in Asian countries where the population ingests larger amounts of soy than is contained in the average US diet. Recent data suggest that soy intake is correlated with bone mineral density in Asian women. Soy foods are rich sources of isoflavones and these compounds may be responsible for the health benefits of soy. Although epidemiological and preliminary cross-sectional data suggest that soy may be beneficial to bone (1,2), few well-controlled clinical trials have been completed to adequately test this theory. Many women in the United States are demanding more 'natural' treatments for chronic diseases and a substantial proportion of women are already consuming more soy products or using isoflavone supplements. However, it is unclear if these practices are beneficial to postmenopausal women. We hypothesize that isoflavones and soy protein will have a beneficial effect on bone in older women compared to control protein. Further, we hypothesize that there will be an additional benefit to bone in women who receive soy protein plus isoflavones compared to control protein or soy protein alone. In order to test these hypotheses we propose an 1-year nutrition intervention study in women over age 65 years in which the main outcome measures will be biochemical markers of bone turnover, quality of life, bone mineral density.