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The ignored estrogen in soy.


Over the past decade, the plant estrogens Estrogens
Hormones produced by the ovaries, the female sex glands.

Mentioned in: Acne, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

estrogens (es´trōjenz),
n.
 genistein and daidzein have become darlings of health food enthusiasts. Scores of studies have suggested that these compounds, members of a family known as isoflavones isoflavones (īˑ·sō·flāˈ·vōnz),
n.pl phytoestrogenic compounds found in various plants, including red clover and soy.
, may underlie many of soy's reputed health benefits. These include defense against cancer (SN: 10/11/97, p. 230), reductions in cholesterol (SN: 5/30/98, p. 348), protection against age-related bone loss (SN: 1/2/99, p. 15), and perhaps even mitigation of menopausal hot flashes hot flashes Hot flush Gynecology A symptom afflicting 80-85% of middle-aged ♀, first occurring during the perimenopause, continuing with ↓ intensity for yrs, manifesting itself as transient waves of erythema and uncomfortable warmth beginning in the .

The two isoflavones constitute 90 percent of the estrogen-mimicking, or estrogenic, material in soy. Seldom mentioned is glycitein, which makes up the remaining 10 percent.

Glycitein's presence at just trace levels in the whole soybean soybean, soya bean, or soy pea, leguminous plant (Glycine max, G. soja, or Soja max) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Asia, where it has been  has discouraged most researchers from working with it, notes Patricia A. Murphy of Iowa State University Academics
ISU is best known for its degree programs in science, engineering, and agriculture. ISU is also home of the world's first electronic digital computing device, the Atanasoff–Berry Computer.
 in Ames. However, she notes, glycitein makes up fully 40 percent of the plant estrogens in soy germ.

In terms of estrogenicity, glycitein appears to top both daidzein and genistein, the Iowa scientists report in the April JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY. A companion paper in the May JOURNAL OF NUTRITION notes that the body takes up glycitein more readily than it does soy's other isoflavones. This alone could explain glycitein's greater estrogenicity, says Murphy. "We just absorb it better."

Noting glycitein's potency and the growing market for soy germ, Murphy believes that researchers should begin investigating any health effects of glycitein. Recent data on genistein have pointed out that whether a plant estrogen is beneficial or detrimental may depend on when it's ingested in·gest  
tr.v. in·gest·ed, in·gest·ing, in·gests
1. To take into the body by the mouth for digestion or absorption. See Synonyms at eat.

2.
 or other factors (SN: 4/24/99, p. 262).
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Copyright 1999, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:isoflavone glycitein
Publication:Science News
Article Type:Brief Article
Date:May 15, 1999
Words:264
Previous Article:What's That Smell?(trimethylaminuria, or fish odor syndrome)
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