The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, stated: “Observational studies and small trials of short duration suggest that the isoflavone phytoestrogen genistein reduces bone loss, but the evidence is not definitive.” The object of the new study was: “To assess the effects of genistein on bone metabolism in osteopenic postmenopausal women.” The study was funded by the Italian Ministry of Education and the University of Messina, Italy.
In the study, researchers randomly assigned 389 women who were past menopause (ages 49 to 67) to take either 54 mg of genistein daily for 24 months or a placebo pill. Both the genistein and the placebo pills also contained calcium and vitamin D, known to build bone. The doses per day were 500 mg of calcium and 400 IU of vitamin D.
The women had osteopenia, defined as the bone mineral density lower than normal but not low enough to be classified as osteoporosis. The researchers focused on evaluating the bone mineral density at the lumbar spine and the hip, conducting bone mineral density measurements at the study start, and again at 12 and 24 months.
After just one year of the study, researchers found that bone had stopped deteriorating in the women taking genistein and began to reform and become denser. Bone mineral density in the placebo group continued to decline.
Annals of Internal Medicine 146(12):839-847,2007
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