FRIDAY, Sept. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Isoflavone supplementation reverses endothelial dysfunction and may prove efficacious in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases, according to a report published online Sept. 23 in the European Heart Journal.
Yap-Hang Chan, M.D., of The University of Hong Kong, and colleagues performed a randomized controlled trial examining the effect of oral isoflavone supplementation on vascular endothelial function in patients with prior ischemic stroke. Patients were randomized to either 80 mg/day isoflavone (50 patients) or placebo (52 patients) for 12 weeks, and the resulting impact on brachial flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) was measured in addition to a number of biochemical markers.
Overall, FMD was significantly greater and there was significantly less impairment of FMD in patients treated with isoflavone compared to placebo, the researchers report. An inverse relationship existed between baseline FMD and the overall treatment effect, suggesting those patients with more severe endothelial dysfunction may gain the most benefit. While isoflavone therapy also significantly decreased C-reactive protein, no effect was seen on nitroglycerin-mediated dilatation, blood pressure, heart rate, fasting glucose and insulin, hemoglobin A1c, and oxidative stress as determined by serum superoxide dismutase, 8-isoprostane, and malondialdehyde.
"In this randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial, we demonstrated that 12-week isoflavone treatment improved brachial FMD in patients with clinically manifest atherosclerosis, and thus reversing their endothelial dysfunction status," the authors conclude. "These findings may have important implications for the use of isoflavone for secondary prevention in patients with cardiovascular disease, on top of conventional cardiovascular interventions."
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