What Is "IN" Soy?
Chemopreventive Activity of Soy Phytochemicals
As a result of a NCI June 27, 1990 Symposium on the Anticancer Effects of Soybeans, the participants agreed that soy played a strong role in preventing cancer and identified five individual anticarcinogens in soybeans, after which time NIC allocated $3 million for research on the anticancer effects of soybeans. Soy phytochemicals address a Soy phytochemicals address a wide range of conditions.
Following is a listing detailing the phytochemical components of greatest interest as well as their mechanisms of action and efficacy study results.
Isoflavones
Isoflavones in soy are a unique and critical component for inclusion into the diets of everyone. Isoflavones can help prevent breast cancer and other estrogen responsive cancers, and may have potential as a low dose (40 - 50 mg per day) substitute for hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women by forestalling complications of menopause in women such as vulvovaginal dryness and hot flashes while simultaneously reducing the risks for heart disease via cholesterol reduction.
Also reduced is LDL oxidation which can lead to atherosclerosis, and blood thinning helping to prevent heart attacks and stroke. Additionally, isoflavones may prevent or slow prostate cancer growth in men significantly. Isoflavones help prevent DNA damage leading to mutations by acting as antioxidants, block blood vessel growth to tumors (antiantiogenesis factors), cause certain tumor cells to revert to their `differentiated' or noncancerous state, and inhibit tumor cells by inhibiting their products.
Soybeans are quite uniquely rich in phytoestrogens called isoflavones resemble estrogens greatly in structure acting as strong competetive estrogen receptor weak agonists--estrogenomimetics. In vying for receptors yet eliciting little signal potency in high estrogen females, they act as antiestrogens and in fact mute administered estrogens in test subjects. Isoflavones are orally absorbed, achieve good blood levels and genistein is excreted renally as equol in the urine of most people.
In one study women's menstrual cycles were increased by 2.5 days per cycle, additionally the gonadal-pituitary axis was affected with decreased LHRH levels as well; thus overall long term soy intake reduces replication thus, the mutation rate of mammary tissue.
Isoflavones increase hepatic P450 isozymes and prostglandin synthase and reduce Benzo[a]pyrene metabolism. Tamoxifen utilized in estrogen receptor positive mammary tumor patients or high-risk breast cancer patients as an estrogen blocker enigmatically also shows proestrogenic effects likely attributable to a dual isomeric version of the drug molecules whereas genistein, daidzen and other isoflavones are strongly estrogen receptor competitive weak agonists. Tamoxifen is being utilized as an antiestrogen in a 16,000 woman breast cancer chemoprevention study by the NCI.
Retrospective epidemiologic attribution links isoflavones to a reduced breast cancer risk with vegetarian and Asian groups commensurate with high isoflavone renal product excretion. Animal cancer soy inclusion dietary studies show at least a 50% reduction in breast and prostate tumors compared to isoflavone absent soy controls. Over 200 scientific papers published on genistein detail in vitro cancer cell inhibition for mammary, colon, prostate, lung, skin and leukemia cancer cell lines.
Animal in vivo data show that genistein directly inhibits skin and precolon tumors. Genistein is a good antioxidant, an extremely potent tyrosine kinase inhibitor; tyrosine kinase concentration in breast epithelium being a good indicator as to malignancy-- and other oncogene protein product inhibitor--the theory being that if you can inhibit the activity of this enzyme along with others overproduced you can stop a normal cell from being transformed into a cancer cell.
When DNA damage has accumulated beyond repair and an inheritable irreversible mutation (such as a deletion of a tumor-suppression gene) has occurred, usually oncogenes become activated. When this happens, oncogene protein products, usually enzymes like tyrosine kinase get over-expressed. If these isoflavones get into the breast compartment and keep this oncogene product in check, it may partially explain lower incidences of breast cancer as seen in Oriental women who consume up to 100 mg of isoflavones daily as opposed to Western families.
Genistein causes direct tumor cell differentiation (of de-differentiated cells) and acts as an antiangiogenesis factor slowing tumor growth, though at higher levels than required to initially prevent cancer cell growth. Additionally, genistein affects atherosclerosis thus heart disease in its antithrombin effects, inhibitory activity of smooth muscle cell proliferation hence plaque formation and antioxidant qualities preventing oxidation of LDL. By adding isoflavones to the diet, cholesterol levels can drop by as much as 35%. A recent study showed that genistein inhibited human prostate cancer cell lines and may possibly delay onset of clinical prostate cancer by 10-15 years. Genistin is the beta-glucoside conjugate of genistein; genistein and soybean flour with genistin reserves and normal genistein levels were both shown to induce P450 xenobiotic metabolizing isozymes, likely though genistein which is highest in fermented soy is better assimilated, genistein in lower levels in nonfermented still shows activity, and higher quantities of the less pungent nonfermented products can be consumed, which do exhibit the chemopreventive effects.
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Saponins