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背景知识：女性绝经后，雌激素分泌会减少，并导致记忆力下降、潮热、疲劳、易怒以及骨密度降低等问题。雌激素替代疗法等传统疗法曾一度流行，但因副作用较大而被限制使用。尔后科学家发现一种较为安全的雌激素，即从植物中提取的雌激素，于是服用含有植物雌激素的膳食补充剂成为目前比较受欢迎的雌激素补充方式。

Buyer Beware: Estrogen Supplements Not As Effective As Claimed, Researchers Find
雌激素类膳食补充剂可能言过其实

转自丁香园，lisuxizh编译

ScienceDaily (Sep. 2, 2009) — Dietary supplements claiming to help postmenopausal women with bone health may not be doing what they say, according to new research from Purdue University.
每日科学9月2号报道----根据美国普渡大学的一项研究，膳食补充剂未必如其声称的那样对绝经后妇女的骨骼健康有所帮助。
"We found that some plant-derived isoflavones have a modest effect on suppressing bone loss during post-menopause, but more concerning is many dietary supplements that claim to have the power of estrogen do not," said Connie Weaver, distinguished professor of foods and nutrition. "It's buyer beware. Some of the supplements in our study claimed to be substitutes for estrogen, yet they weren't effective at all or weren't as effective as some of the current treatments for osteoporosis."

“我们发现，一些植物源性异黄酮对防止绝经后的骨质流失有一定的作用，但问题是许多膳食补充剂都声称有与雌激素相同的效果而事实上是达不到的，”颇有声望的食品营养学教授Connie Weaver说。 “消费者要注意这一点，我们的研究中发现一些膳食补充剂虽然声称是雌激素的替代品，但是它们根本就没有效果或是无法与目前骨质疏松症的治疗的某些效果相比。”

Women who are menopausal or postmenopausal produce less estrogen, and that leads to bone loss. More than 2 million women in the United States reach menopause each year, according to the National Women's Health Resource Center.
更年期和绝经后的妇女雌激素逐渐减少，这会导致骨质流失。 美国每年有超过200万的妇女处于绝经期，根据国家妇女健康资源中心的资料。

Estrogen hormone replacement therapy was the traditional treatment, but it is no longer recommended for the long term because of links to stroke, embolism and breast cancer. Some individuals have harmful side effects with long-term use of bisphosphonates, the current main class of osteoporosis treatment drugs.
雌激素替代疗法是传统的治疗，但是因为与中风，栓塞，乳腺癌之间的风险联系医生已经不推荐长期使用雌激素进行治疗。有些患者长期使用双膦酸盐会产生有害的副作用，它是目前治疗骨质疏松症的主流药物。

"This is a reminder that it's better to build up a good healthy skeleton than to rely on a drug to fix it later," Weaver said. "Healthy bones can be maintained by a good diet that is rich in calcium and regular exercise that includes strength training."
“这里有一个提醒----最好是拥有一个良好健康的骨骼，而不是有问题之后依赖药物来弥补，”韦弗说。 “健康的骨骼可以通过良好的富含钙的饮食习惯和包括力量练习的日常锻炼来保持。”

Weaver, who also is co-director of the Botanicals Research Center for Age Related Diseases, and her team looked at four popular isoflavones: soy cotyledon, soy germ, red clover and kudzu. These plant-derived phytoestrogens are claimed to protect bone health from estrogen loss, which can lead to osteoporosis and even fractures.
Weaver和她的研究小组研究了四种畅销的异黄酮：大豆子叶异黄酮，大豆胚芽异黄酮，红三叶草异黄酮以及葛根异黄酮。 这些植物性雌激素声称可以保护骨骼不受雌激素的减少的影响----雌激素的减少可导致骨质疏松症，甚至骨折。

The researchers compared the four isoflavones to a traditional bisphosphonate treatment, risedronate and estrogen plus progesterone. These traditional therapies decreased bone loss 22 percent to 24 percent, but only soy isoflavones from the cotyledon and germ significantly decreased bone loss by 9 percent and 5 percent, respectively. The findings are available online and will be published in the October edition of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
研究者对四种异黄酮和采用双膦酸盐利塞膦酸钠以及雌+孕激素的传统治疗进行了比较，这些传统疗法使骨质损失减少22%至24%，而异黄酮中仅有大豆子叶和大豆胚芽异黄酮分别使骨质损失显著减少了9%和5%。 研究结果已在网上公布，并将在临床内分泌和代谢杂志 10月版刊登。

The findings also indicate that the soy cotyledon was more effective because of its higher genistein content. Weaver's team is currently evaluating the role of genistein more closely.
调查结果还表明，大豆子叶因为含有更丰富的染料木素而更为有效。Weaver的研究小组目前正在进一步评估染料木素的作用。

"Before, we might have assumed that any isoflavone was equally effective, but we found that for a supplement to work it was because of the genistein content specifically," she said.
“以前，我们可能会认为，只要是异黄酮补充剂作用都差不多，但我们发现----明确的说，一种补充剂之所以有效，因为含有染料木素的缘故。”她说。

This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health and supplements were supplied by the dietary and health companies Cognis, Frutarom and Novagen.
这项研究由国家卫生研究院资助，膳食补充剂由 Cognis，Frutarom 和 Novagen公司提供。

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