Make sure your isoflavones are free form. They help in the management and the problems of menopause. Free form isoflavones also help in the prevention of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disorders.

 

ISOFLAVONES IN HEALTH & NUTRITION

Nothin’ But Herbs’ Isoflavones are in their free form allowing them to bypass the conversion step in which the bound isoflavones are converted to their free forms thus allowing our product to be more efficiently absorbed. Most Isoflavones on the market are not in the free form, but are in the bound form making them more difficult to be absorbed by the body.

 

Soy Isoflavones in the management of the symptoms of menopause:

The major health benefits of diets supplemented with soy isoflavones have been observed in menopause and post-menopausal women. Soy isoflavones were found to play a potential role in the prevention of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disorders. These conditions often accompany menopause in women. Genistein is thought to offer protection against osteoporosis by inhibiting bone degradation and prevent cardiovascular disease by helping to lower both blood cholesterol and blood pressure. Soy isoflavones are therefore a potential alternative to estrogen replacement therapy, the conventional approach to the management of menopause in women.

 

The initial interest in soy isoflavones was generated by the epidemiological observation that Asian females who typically consume a soy-rich diet have a lower incident of the symptoms of menopause as compared to Western women. For example, it is reported that the occurrence of hot flashes varies in menopausal women in China and Singapore is 14% as compared to 70 to 80% in women in Europe. Recent clinical studies have confirmed the beneficial effects of soy in this context. In one study, hot flashes were decreased by 45 percent in women given soy powder, as compared to 30 percent reduction in women receiving a placebo. In a study on postmenopausal women, 104 subjects were given daily levels of soy protein isolate containing 76 milligrams of isoflavones or a placebo for 12 weeks. The results showed a significant decrease in the number of hot flashes in women on soy supplementation as compared to the women receiving the placebo. A 26 percent reduction in the man number of hot flashes was observed by week three, a 33 percent reduction by week four and a 45 percent reduction by the end of the study.

 

Consumption of soy phytochemicals may also help to prevent osteoporosis. The role of isoflavones in the prevention of bone loss associated with menopause is based on the effects of estrogen on bone remodeling. As soy isoflavones are similar to estrogens in structure, they attach to the specific receptor sites for estrogens and provide beneficial effects. A recent preclinical study revealed that Genistein had a marked inhibitory effect on osteoclast-like cell formation in mouse marrow cultures. This finding substantiates the role of soy isoflavones in maintaining the balance between osteoclastic activity, which facilitates breakdown of old bone tissue, and osteoblastic activity, which potentiates new bone formation.

 

Soy isoflavones as anticancer agents: 

Epidemiological evidence suggests that the low incidence of breast cancer in certain women of oriental origin is related to the consumption of a diet rich in soy isoflavones.  Genistein and certain other flavonoid substances have growth inhibiting activity on tumor cells in vitro, protect animals from experimentally induced mammary tumors and inhibit neo-angiogenesis. Soy isoflavones have been shown to inhibit several of the key enzymes thought to be involved in carcinogenesis. The cancer protective effects of soy isoflavones may be mediated through a number of different mechanisms. The antioxidant properties of soy isoflavones may have an important role in the prevention of cancer. The estrogenic/anti-estrogenic properties and its reported ability to inhibit the action of key enzymes such as tyrosine kinase, could be relevant as well. A recent randomized crossover study performed in 12 healthy postmenopausal women revealed that soy isoflavones consumption decreased the urinary excretion of estradiol, estrone, estriol and total estrogens as well as the excretion of the hypothesized genotoxic estrogen metabolites, 16 alpha-hydroxyestrone, 4-hydroxyestrone and 4-hydroxyestradiol, significantly as compared to the non-isoflavones diet. There was a significant increase in the radio 2-hydroxyestrone/16-hydroxyestrone and a decrease in the genotoxic/total estrogens ratio, suggesting that soy isoflavone consumption may exert cancer-preventive effects by decreasing estrogen synthesis and altering the metabolic process towards the production of non-genotoxic metabolites. Asian men, who consume a low fat/high fiber soy-based diet, have a lower incident of prostate cancer than men from North American and Europe. One study postulates that dietary isoflavones could influence both endocrine and growth factor signaling pathways, thereby offering protection against prostate cancer.