The Power Of Isoflavones

Greetings everyone.

More on the topic of menopause today. Isoflavones..you may have heard about them or heard your health professional mention them. These are very useful little nutrients. One reason asian women tend to sail through menopause with few symptoms and lower incidences of hormone related cancers is that they eat large amounts of soya products, such as tofu, tempeh and miso. Most soya bean products ( Alway go for organically grown ) contain isoflavones, whose chemical structure closely resembles that of oestrogen. More than a thousand clinical studies indicate that soya compounds act as ‘weak’ oestrogens in the body – filling in for ‘real’ oestrogen when there isn’t enough, but blocking the body’s own when there is too much.

Phytoestrogens can also protect the heart against postmenopausal heart disease just as well as hormone replacement therapy; help protect against bone-mineral loss, the leading cause of osteoperosis; and can help protect against breast and uterine cancer and postmenopausal psychologocal problems. Although no dietary guidelines have been established for soya, studies show that even small amounts of soya products, eaten twice daily, can improve women’s health during menopause.

If you want to get isoflavones but you just hate soya beans no matter how cleverly they are disguised, try incorporating other beans into your diet. Most legumes, including Adzuki, black, broad, butter, kidney and mung beans, red and yellow lentils and black eyed peas either come close to to or surpass soybean’s level of Genistein, one of the key isoflavones. In addition, they’re low fat and high fibre, high protein and perfect heart health foods.

It is not cheating to get your Isoflavones from a capsule, but you won’t reap the side benefits of bringing low fat, high fibre foods to your table. Typical dosage os supplemental Isoflavone” 6-20mg od Genistein or total Isoflavone consumption of 40-80mg daily.

Now go pig out!

Don’t forget to add your comments, I love to read and answer them.

Have a great day!

Craig Hitchens. B.Hsc.