Nutr Res Pract.  2008 Jun;2(2):68-73.

Effects of isoflavone supplementation on the bone mineral density of growing female rats

• Jo HJ
• Choi MJ

Abstract

This study was focused on whether or not isoflavones affect the increase in bone mineral density of growing females. Female Sprague-Dawley rats (60 +/- 5 g) were randomly assigned to two groups and provided control diets (control group) or isoflavone-supplemented diet (IF group, 57.8 mg isoflavones/100 g diet) for 9 weeks in growing female rats. Measurements of Bone Mineral Density (BMD) and Bone Mineral Content (BMC) on the experimental animals were executed in the 3rd, 6th, 9th weeks. In result, there was no significant difference in spine BMD between the isoflavones supplemented group and the control group. But, the IF group tended to have higher BMD than the control group in between 3 and 9 experimental weeks, and the striking difference could be shown in the 6th week of feeding. In case of femur BMD, the effects of added isoflavones appeared in the 6th week of feeding, and it became intensified in the 9th week of feeding to the extent that the BMD in the IF group was significantly higher than that of the control group (p<0.05). In conclusion, isoflavone supplementation increased spine BMD per weight in the 6th week of feeding, and affected the increase of femur BMD in the 9th week. The result of the experiment implies that it affects positively the formation of spine and femur BMD of growing female rats. The study also suggests that the effects of isoflavone on the pattern of BMD formation might differ from the parts of bones.

Keyword

Isoflavones; growing female rat; bone mineral density (BMD); bone mineral content (BMC)

MeSH Terms

Animals
Bone Density
Diet
Female
Femur
Humans
Isoflavones
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Spine
Strikes, Employee
Isoflavones

Reference

1. Adlercreutz H, Hamalainen E, Gorbach S, Goldin B. Dietary phyto-oestrogens and the menopause in Japan. Lancet. 1992; 339:1233. PMID: 1349965.

2. Anderson JW, Johnstone BM, Cook-Newell ME. Meta-analysis of the effects of soy protein intake on serum lipids. N Engl J Med. 1995; 333:276–282. PMID: 7596371.

3. Arjmandi BH, Alekel L, Hollis BW, Amin D, Stacewicz-Sapuntzakis M, Guo P, Kukreja SC. Dietary soybean protein prevents bone loss in an ovariectomized rat model of osteoporosis. J Nutr. 1996; 126:161–167. PMID: 8558297.

4. Brandi ML. Natural and synthetic isoflavone in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. Calcif Tissue Int. 1997; 61:S5–S8. PMID: 9263608.

5. Chae JH. The effect of isoflavones on bone mineral density and bone mineral content in growing male rats. 2002. Keimyung University of Korea;Mater's Thesis.

6. Choi MJ, Cho HJ. Effects of soy protein and isoflavones on bone mineral density in growing female rats. The Korean Journal of Nutrition. 2003; 36:359–367.

7. Eriksen EF, Colvard DS, Berg NJ. Evidence of estrogen receptors in normal human osteoblast like cells. Science. 1998; 241:84–86. PMID: 3388021.

8. Griffin MG, Kimble R, Hopfer W, Pacifici R. Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry of the rat: Accuracy, precision, and measurement of bone loss. J Bone Miner Res. 1993; 8:795–800. PMID: 8352062.

9. Greendale GA, Fitzgerald G, Huang MH, Sternfeld B, Gold E, Seeman T, Sherman S, Sowers M. Dietary soy isoflavones and bone mineral density : Results from the study of women's health across the nation. Am J Epidemiol. 2002; 155:746–754. PMID: 11943693.

10. Ishimi Y, Miyaura C, Ohmura M, Onoe Y, Sato T, Uchiyama Y, Ito M, Wang X, Suda T, Ikegami S. Selective effects of genistein, a soybean isoflavone, on B-lymphopoiesis and bone loss caused by estrogen deficiency. Endocrinology. 1999; 140:1893–1900. PMID: 10098529.

11. Jayagopal V, Albertazzi P, Kilpatrick ES, Howarth EM, Jennings PE, Hepburn DA, Atkin SL. Beneficial effects of soy phytoestrogen intake in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2002; 25:1709–1714. PMID: 12351466.

12. Jung SH. The effect of dietary protein source and sulfur amino acid content on bone metabolism in male rats. 1995. Keimyung University of Korea;Master's Thesis.

13. Kuiper GJM, Lemmen JG, Calsson B. Interaction of estrogenic chemicals and phytoestrogens with estrogen receptor β. Endocrinology. 1998; 139:4252–4263. PMID: 9751507.

14. Knight DC, Eden JA. A review of the clinical effects of phytoestrogens. Obstet Gynecol. 1996; 87:897–904. PMID: 8677131.

15. Lees CJ, Ginn TA. Soy protein isolate diet does not prevent increased cortical bone turnover in ovariectomized monkeys. Calcif Tissue Int. 1998; 62:557–558. PMID: 9576987.

16. Makela S, Davis VL, Tally WC. Dietary estrogens act through estrogen receptor-mediated processes and show no antiestrogenicity in cultured breast cancer cells. Environ Health Perspect. 1994; 102:572–578. PMID: 9679118.

17. Mei J, Yeung SS, Kung AW. High dietary phytoestrogen intake is associated with higher bone mineral density in postmenopausal but not premenopausal women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2001; 86:5217–5221. PMID: 11701680.

18. Miksicek RJ. Interaction of naturally occurring nonsteroidal estrogens with expressed recombinant human estrogen receptor. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 1994; 49:153–160. PMID: 8031711.

19. Oursler MJ, Osdoby P, Pyfferoen J. Avian osteoclasts as estrogen target cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1991; 88:6613–6617. PMID: 1907373.

20. Pruitt LA, Jackson RD, Bartels RL, Lehmard HJ. Weight-training effects on bone mineral density in early postmenopausal women. J Bone Miner Res. 1992; 7:179–185. PMID: 1570762.

21. Reeves PG, Nielsen FH, Fahey GC. AIN-93 purified diets for laboratory rodents. J Nutr. 1993; 123:1939–1951. PMID: 8229312.

22. Rice MM. Soy consumption and bone mineral density in older Japanese American women in King county. 1999. Seattle, WA. USA: University of Washington;Ph.D Dissertation.

23. Santell RC, Chang YC, Nair MG, Helferich WG. Dietary genistein exerts estrogenic effects upon the uterus, mammary gland and the hypothalamic/pituitary axis in rats. J Nutr. 1997; 127:263–269. PMID: 9039826.

24. Schonherr E, Kinsella MG, Wight TN. Genistein selectively inhibits platelet-derived growth factor-stimulated versican biosynthesis in monkey arterial smooth muscle cells. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1997; 339:353–361. PMID: 9056268.

25. Setchel KDR, Nechemias LZ, Cai J, heubi JE. Isoflavones content of infant formulas and the metabolic fate of these phytoestrogens in early life. Am J Clin Nutr. 1998; 68:1453s–1461s. PMID: 9848516.