Issue 140 Item 9 Soy Comparable to Some Diabetes Drugs

Soy products lowered the women’s blood sugar as much as some prescription diabetes drugs, the researchers say.

“Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not react to insulin normally — called insulin resistance. Initially, the body compensates by producing more insulin, but eventually this is not enough, and blood sugar levels in the blood begin to rise. Being overweight is the No. 1 cause of type 2 diabetes.

“The women were split equally into two groups. One group sprinkled their food daily with a white powder containing 30 grams of soy protein and 132 milligrams of soy isoflavones for 12 weeks. (Isoflavones are chemicals found in soybeans that are similar — but not identical — to the female hormone estrogen.) Two weeks later, they sprinkled their food with an identical powder that contained no soy product for another 12 weeks. The other group used the fake powder first and the soy powder second. Neither group knew which they were using at the time.

“The women’s weight stayed nearly constant throughout the 12 weeks. When they ate the soy, insulin resistance improved and their insulin, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels were better than when they ate the fake powder. The soy products lowered the women’s blood sugar as much as some prescription diabetes drugs, the researchers say.

“Phytoestrogens are chemicals in plants that resemble estrogen. Isoflavones are one type. The researchers’ findings are significant for women past menopause because these women don’t produce their own estrogen, and for this reason they are more vulnerable to heart disease, stroke, and other blood vessel diseases. People with diabetes are also generally more vulnerable to these often fatal diseases.

“Giving women estrogen directly raises their risk of cancer, so researchers have been considering phytoestrogens as another option. "It seemed like this might give an alternative to a population that otherwise didn’t have one," says lead author Vijay Jayogopal, MRCP, of the University of Hull in England. He and his colleagues plan further studies in an attempt to isolate the active ingredient in soy.”