Isoflavinoids may reduce urinary incontinence, urgency, erectile dysfunction, rectal cramping/diarrhea, and pain with bowel movements – while pateints are on radiation. Annoyingly, there weren’t enough cases to be sure of anything…
Nutr Cancer. 2010 Oct;62(7):996-1000.
Soy isoflavones in conjunction with radiation therapy in patients with prostate cancer
Ahmad IU, Forman JD, Sarkar FH, Hillman GG, Heath E, Vaishampayan U, Cher ML, Andic F, Rossi PJ, Kucuk O.
Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA. abstract here
- Used 50 mg soy isoflavones (Novasoy)were provided by Archer Daniels Midland Company (Decatur, IL). – 2 tablets 2 times a day
- Each tablet contained 50 mg of total soy isoflavones at a ratio of 1.1:1:0.2 for genistein:daidzein:glycitein, which account for 40% of total content of the tablet. So:
genistein 9.13 mg
diadzein 8.3 mg
glycitein 1.66 mg - tablet also has soya saponins (30–40%),protein (9%), sugars (<1%), fat (<1%), and other minor soy component
The most active engredient might be the genistein as in the same journal issue was published:
Nutrition and Cancer, 62(7), 1001–1005, 2010
Soy Isoflavones Ameliorate the Adverse Effects of Chemotherapy in Children
Nurdan Tacyildiz et al
abstract here
They used – Care-food Vertrieb “(Care-food Vertrieb, Koblenz, Germany) was 0.30 g/tablet and contained 82% soy isoflavone extract and 2.7% (8 mg) genistein.” They felt the genistein was the active ingredient and demonstrated elevations of this drug in case subjects with benefits – less pain , diarrhea, myelosuppression, mucositis, and infection.
In the prostate cancer study there were 13 cases in both active and placebo groups so the differences were only a few – hardly enough for statistical analysis:
Dribbling at 6 month 1/13 active versus 4/13 placebo
Cramping or diarrhea at 6 month – 1/13 active versus 3/13 placebo
Same or better erectile function – 11/13 active versus 8/13 placebo
None of these include enough to be statistically significant;
Statistically, the best was the dribbling 1/13 versus 4/13 which I got a p=0.135 value – just not enough cases for statistical significance.
PSA dropped to 3.7 to 0.9 ng/ml in isofalvenoid group and 4.9 to 2.0 ng/ml in control – given that the controls were worse to start, I don’t know if that is any better.
Comment – Ok, where there is smoke maybe there is fire. Needs replication with a bigger group.
Where would one get the isoflavinoids? In the USA, there are plenty of products containing Daniel Archer’s isoflavinoids – many companies use it for their products though often mix with red clover and other things. Using a Novasoy ingredient will show as a leaf logo on the bottle.
In Canada – not so easy. Sangster’s has a Soy Isoflavone but it is cheap with very little Genistin in it. I did find a US company selling Novasoy ingedient and willing to send to Canada:|
(Maxilife is a Novasoy product and I found this site shipping to Canada:)
http://www.mothernature.com/p/-Maxilife-Mega-Soy-80-mg-60-caps/103990.html
The article was using 200 mg Novasoy/day.
This brand has 80 mg per capsule so would be one three times/day giving 240 mg…
If anyone uses it during prostate cancer radiotherapy – please let me know if it works!