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Study shows soy Isoflavones reduce DHT while increasing Testosterone

There’s a lot of conjecture on how soy consumption and hair growth are associated. In this study, male rats were fed soy isoflavones in diverse quantities . Afterward a week, their testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels were assessed. Because cutting DHT levels appears to be an efficient way to reduce hair loss, this should be an interesting subject field for people looking at soy isoflavones as a possible hair loss treatment.

Constitution of the soy dietings

To determine how soy isoflavones and androgen levels are interrelated, the authors carried on two experimentations. In the first experiment, rats in the treatment group were given soy flour with their normal food. In the second experiment, rats in the treatment groups were given either a soy methanol extract or semi purified soy isoflavones.

The isoflavone content of the soy flour was 1.92 mg/g. The isoflavone contents of the soy methanol extract and semipurified soy isoflavones were 3.38 mg/g and 218 mg/g, respectively. In the first experiment, the rats in the treatment group received 442.7 g/kg soy flour in their diet. In the second experiment, they received 20 g/kg of soy extract or 2 g/kg of soy isoflavones in their diets.

Resuming, according to the authors, the actual soy isoflavone consumptions of the rats were as follows: 19 mg/day in the soy flour group, 0.9 mg/day in the soy extract group, and 3.3 mg/day in the soy isoflavone group. The control groups ate zero soy isoflavones.

I should mention that I don’t altogether realise how the authors ascended with the isoflavone intake of the soy flour group. The isoflavone content of the soy flour is described on the food constitution table as 1.92 mg/g. Consequently, per each kg of food, there ought be 442.7 * 1.92 = 850 mg of soy isoflavones. As the rats consumed on average 22.4 g/day, that would add up to 0.024 * 850 = 20.4 mg of soy isoflavones per day. The authors, then again, write the following:

Inasmuch as the the soy flour diet contains 67.2 mg isoflavones/kg, rats in the soy flour group were estimated to have consumed 19.0 mg isoflavones/day.

How they ascended with those figures supporting their data, I do not know. Anyhow, the final results for the daily isoflavone consumption are very alike, so perhaps I just failed to accompany their logical system here.

Soy isoflavones and DHT

Rats on the soy flour diet had significantly inferior DHT levels than rats on the control diet. Likewise, the DHT levels of the rats on the soy isoflavone diet were approximately 60% lower DHT than in the control group. On soy extract diet DHT levels tended to decrease, but the deviation wasn’t statistically substantial.

The picture to the left demonstrates the DHT levels for the soy extract and soy isoflavone diets compared to the control group. The viewed decrement in DHT from the soy flour diet (not shown above) was alike to that of the soy extract diet, with the exception that the divergence was statistically substantial.

Soy isoflavones and testosterone

Rats on the soy flour diet had analogous levels of testosterone + dihydrotestosterone (T+DHT) as the control group. Since their DHT levels were lower, nevertheless, this implies that there was an increment in testosterone from eating the soy flour diet. In the soy isoflavone diet, this consequence was even more discerning; not only was the reduction in DHT counterbalanced by a gain in testosterone, but the total T+DHT levels were a good deal higher than they were before the diet.

This figure shows the T+DHT levels of the soy extract and soy isoflavone diets compared to the control group. Testosterone levels tended to increment and DHT levels tended to diminish also on the soy extract diet, but again, the deviations were not statistically substantial.

The fact that the soy isoflavone demonstrated important effects and the soy extract is perhaps imputable the divergences in soy isoflavone content of the diets. The rats on the soy extract diet ingested only 0.9 mg/day, while those on the isoflavone diet ingested 3.3 mg/day. The two charts depicted here seem to confirm the estimation that the effect is dose-dependent.

What is perplexing, nonetheless, is that the soy flour diet evidenced a less noticeable effect than the soy isoflavone diet, even although it had a much higher isoflavone content. Possibly the dose-response is not linear but a bell curve. Regrettably, the authors propose no account or hypothesis for the results in the study.

Conclusion

Soy isoflavones significantly cut back DHT levels and increased testosterone levels in male rats. A consumption of 3.3 mg of isoflavones per day was the most efficient of the three treatments examined. A lower consumption demonstrated alike but less noticeable effects, while a higher consumption didn’t appear to boost the effect.

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