The Effects of Soy Isoflavones on Obesity

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Anne Ørgaard and
Lotte Jensen1

Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

¹ Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. E-mail: lottejen{at}gmail.com

Over the last decades, the prevalence of obesity and relateddiseases has increased rapidly in the Western world. Obesityis a disorder of energy balance and is associated with hyper-insulinemia,insulin resistance, and abnormalities in lipid metabolism, andit is one of the most important risk factors in the developmentof Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis,and certain cancers. Because of the lower frequency of thesediseases in Asian countries, attention has been turned towardthe Asian diet, which consists highly of soy and soy-based products.The health benefits associated with soy consumption have beenlinked to the content of isoflavones, the main class of thephytoestrogens. As a result of their structural similaritiesto endogenous estrogens, isoflavones elicit weak estrogeniceffects by competing with 17β-estradiol (E2) for bindingto the intranuclear estrogen receptors (ERs) and exert estrogenicor antiestrogenic effects in various tissues. The estrogenicactivities of soy isoflavones are thought to play an importantrole in their health-enhancing properties. Additionally, theisoflavones have been proved to exert non-ER–mediatedeffects through numerous other pathways. Genistein, daidzein,and glycitein are the principal isoflavones in soy. Genisteinis the most thoroughly examined of these, because it is themost prevalent isoflavone in soy and the most active of thesecompounds, because of its higher binding affinity for the ER.Genistein and daidzein can be obtained in high levels in humansunder certain nutritional conditions, and epidemiologic andlaboratory data suggest that these compounds could have healthbenefits in human obesity. This review will focus on the latestresults of research on isoflavones and their effect on obesityin cell cultures, rodents, and humans.

Keywords: obesity, isoflavones, metabolic syndrome

Funding support was provided by the research project BEST (“builda healthy life”).

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This article has been cited by other articles:

A. Nanri, T. Mizoue, Y. Takahashi, K. Kirii, M. Inoue, M. Noda, and S. Tsugane Soy Product and Isoflavone Intakes Are Associated with a Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Overweight Japanese Women

J. Nutr.,

March 1, 2010;

140(3):

580 – 586.

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