Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 510
To evaluate the effectiveness of supplementing a group of early-stage prostate cancer patients, with 60 mg of soy isoflavones in producing a change in hormonal and proliferative risk parameters that are implicated in prostate cancer promotion.
This was a randomised clinical trial where 76 prostate cancer patients with a Gleason score of six or below, between ages 50 and 80 years were admitted and supplemented with soy isoflavones(60 mg/day) for a 12-week period and changes in their proliferative and hormonal biomarkers were analysed at baseline and post-intervention.
Fifty-nine of the seventy-six patients completed the 12-week intervention. Serum free testosterone was reduced or showed no change in 61% of subjects in the isoflavone group compared with 33% in the placebo group from baseline to end study. Serum total PSA decreased or was unchanged in 69% of the subjects in the isoflavone treated group compared to 55% in the placebo group. However, we did not see an increase in SHBG levels. Nineteen per cent of subjects receiving soy isoflavones reduced total PSA by two points or more during the intervention period.
These data suggest that surrogate markers of proliferation such as serum total PSA and free testosterone are reduced in a larger number of subjects in the isoflavone-supplemented group than the group receiving placebo even in a study of short duration (12 weeks). Thus, with prolonged consistent isoflavone use, it is possible that we may interfere with disease progression or delay onset of histological disease.
