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Phyto-oestrogens and osteoporosis: what is a safe dose?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2011

Stephen Barnes
Stephen Barnes*
Affiliation:
Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, and Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Dr S. Barnes, fax + 1 205 934 6944, email sbarnes@uab.edu
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Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for preventing loss of bone following the menopause is utilised by only 8–10% of possible users, largely due to a fear of increased risk of breast cancer. Plant oestrogen-like compounds (phyto-oestrogens) have been proposed as an alternative to HRT to prevent osteoporosis. One class of phyto-oestrogens (the isoflavones) is found in soya foods and red clover. The food industry is developing a wide variety of new foods containing soya to substantially increase isoflavone intake, as well as extracting isoflavones from soya and clover to use as additives to non-soya foods. Pharmaceutical companies are also preparing isoflavone extracts to be used in pill form. In each case the targeted delivery is ˜50mg of isoflavones/d. Is this dose of isoflavones safe? In this review of the current literature, it is concluded that isoflavones consumed orally and in doses below 2mg/kg body weight per d should be considered safe for most population groups. Whether these doses are sufficient to prevent osteoporosis is a separate matter.

Keywords

Phyto-oestrogensIsoflavonesBlood levelsMechanisms
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 89 , Issue S1: Effects of Phyto-oestrogens on Bone Health: the VENUS Concerted Action , June 2003 , pp. S101 - S108
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2003

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