Soy May Protect Men From Bone Loss

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Soy, already reported to protect women from bone loss, may be protective in men as well, according to a new report.

At about age 65 men begin to lose bone--as severely as women following menopause, Dr. Dania A. Khalil, of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, told Reuters Health. To determine if soy protein is as effective at preventing bone loss in men as it is in women, Khalil and colleagues randomly assigned 64 healthy men to take either soy- or milk-based protein supplements for 3 months. Nineteen of the men were older than 65.

Khalil presented her group's findings Monday at the Experimental Biology 2001 meeting in Orlando, Florida.

The researchers compared the before and after supplement levels of IGF-I, an insulin like-growth factor found in blood that is associated with increased rates of bone formation.

``Overall, IGF-I increased tremendously--20% in men using the milk-based supplement and nearly 100% in those using soy protein. In the older men on soy protein, serum IGF-I levels more than doubled,'' Khalil told Reuters Health.

The researchers also tested for levels of a bone loss marker, deoxypyridinoline, in the urine of the men both before and after supplement use. Khalil's group noted a slight increase in this indicator in those taking the milk-based protein. ``The soy-based protein depressed this marker of bone loss in the urine of older men,'' Khalil said.

``This is the first study to look at the effects of soy protein in men,'' Khalil told Reuters Health. She believes this short-term study indicates that soy protein may improve bone formation and reduce bone loss in men.

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