Effects of soy milk as a dietary complement during the natural aging process.

Full Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Oxidative stress is one mechanism that could contribute to the acceleration of aging and age-related diseases. On the other hand, because of their antioxidative qualities soybean derived foods could have beneficial effects on the aging process. OBJECTIVES: The aim of our work was to study the effects of a diet supplemented with soy milk on certain biological features of aging in rats. METHODS: Male Wistar rats of 3 to 18 months of age, were assigned to one of two diets: 1) Experimental Group, commercial rat formula and soy milk; 2) Control Group, commercial rat formula and water. Every three months both lipid profile and lipid peroxidation were determined and neuronal cells of hippocampus were counted in control and experimental rats. RESULTS: The soy milk diet significantly improved the plasmatic lipid profile, decreasing serum cholesterol (total as well as LDL) and serum triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol was significatively higher in experimental animals. The LDL/HDL ratio was thus significantly lowered. The soy diet also produced decreased values of lipid peroxidation in brain, liver and kidney. These effects were significant after 6 to 9 months. The experimental animals lost fewer hippocampal neurons than the controls. Finally at 18 months of age, a greater number of surviving animals in experimental group with respect to the control one was observed. CONCLUSIONS: 1) soy intake could have beneficial effects as a complement of normal diet, but not as a replacement for animal proteins and 2) these effects are the result of a very long period (almost lifelong) of consumption of this diet.

Author information

Author/s: Fontenla, M (M); Prchal, A (A); Cena, A M (AM); Albarracín, A L (AL); Pintos, S (S); Benvenuto, S (S); Sosa, M L (ML); Fontenla de Petrino, S (S);

Affiliation: Cátedra de Biología, Departamento Biomédico, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Nutrición hospitalaria : organo oficial de la Sociedad Española de Nutrición Parenteral y Enteral (Nutr Hosp), published in Spain. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2008 Nov-Dec; vol 23 (issue 6) : pp 607-13

Dates: Created 2009/01/09; Completed 2009/03/30;

PMID: 19132270, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 3/30/2009)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MeSH Headings (categories) shown below.

Note: Bold headings indicate primary MeSH headings or qualifiers.

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.

See a larger map of 100+ related articles.