Abstract
Objective:
To study dietary intake and serum concentrations of isoflavones in order to provide relative validation of isoflavone intake estimates from the Scottish Collaborative Group – Food-Frequency Questionnaire (SCG-FFQ).
Design:
Validation study.
Setting:
Southern Scotland.
Method:
Dietary intake of isoflavones was estimated using the semiquantitative SCG-FFQ and rank correlation and Kappa statistics were used for the relative validation of intakes against serum isoflavone concentrations in 203 male participants who were population controls in a case–control study of diet and prostate cancer.
Results:
The median intake of isoflavones (daidzein and genistein) was 1.0 mg/day (I-QR 0.6–1.8). The median serum concentration of genistein was 33.79 nmol/l (I-QR 14.12–64.93), nearly twice that of daidzein (18.00 nmol/l, I-QR 8.26–29.45). Equol was detected in 49% of subjects; in these subjects the median was 0.67 nmol/l (I-QR 0.34–1.51). Isoflavone intake was significantly correlated with serum concentrations of daidzein (ρ=0.24, P=0.001), genistein (ρ=0.26, P<0.001) and total isoflavonoids (sum of daidzein, genistein and equol) (ρ=0.27, P<0.001). Whereas values for weighted Kappa ranged from 0.16 (P=0.002) for daidzein and equol combined to 0.22 (P<0.001) for genistein.
Conclusions:
These results demonstrate the suitability of the SCG-FFQ to rank usual isoflavone intakes in older Scottish men, a population observed to have low consumption of soy foods.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adlercreutz H, Markkanen H, Watanabe S (1993). Plasma concentrations of phyto-oestrogens in Japanese men. Lancet 342, 1209–1210.
Adlercreutz H, Mazur W (1997). Phyto-oestrogens and Western disease. Ann Med 29, 95–120.
Altman DG (1991). Practical Statistics for Medical Research. Chapman & Hall: London.
Arai Y, Uehara M, Sato Y, Kimira M, Eboshida A, Adlercreutz H et al. (2000). Comparison of isoflavones among dietary intake, plasma concentration and urinary excretion for accurate estimation of phytoestrogen intake. J Epidemiol 10, 127–135.
Armstrong B, Doll R (1975). Environmental factors and cancer incidence and mortality in different countries with special reference to dietary practices. Int J Cancer 15, 617–631.
Atkinson C, Skor HE, Fitzgibbons ED, Scholes D, Chen C, Wahala K et al. (2002). Overnight urinary isoflavone excretion in a population of women living in the United States, and its relationship to isoflavone intake.[erratum appears in Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2002 Nov;11(11):1511]. Cancer Epidemiol Bio Prev 11, 253–260.
Black AE, Goldberg GR, Jebb SA, Livingstone MB, Cole TJ, Prentice AM (1991). Critical evaluation of energy intake data using fundamental principles of energy physiology: 2. Evaluating the results of published surveys. [Review] [75 refs]. Eur J Clin Nut 45, 583–599.
Chan W, Brown J, Buss DH (1994). Miscellaneous Foods: Fourth Supplement to the 5th Edition of McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.
Chan W, Brown J, Church SM, Buss DH (1996). Meat Products and Dishes: Sixth Supplement of the 5th Edition of McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.
Chan W, Brown J, Lee SM (1995). Meat, Poultry and Game: Fifth Supplement to the 5th Edition of McCance and Widdowson's The Composition Foods. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.
Chen Z, Zheng W, Custer LJ, Dai Q, Shu X-O, Jin F et al. (1999). Usual dietary consumption of soy foods and it correlation with the excretion rate of isoflavonoids in overnight urine samples among Chinese women in Shanghai. Nutr Cancer 33, 82–87.
Clarke DB, Barnes KA, Castle L, Rose M, Wilson LA, Baxter MJ et al. (2003). Levels of phytoestrogens, incorganic trace-elemnts, natural toxicants and nitrate in vegetarian duplicate diets. Food Chem 81, 287–300.
Clarke DB, Lloyd AS (2004). Dietary exposure estimates of isoflavones from the 1998 UK Total Diet Study. Food Addit Contam 21, 305–316.
Coward L, Barnes NC, Setchell KD, Barnes S (1993). Genistein, daidzein, and their beta-glycoside conjugates – antitumor isoflavones in soybean foods from american and asian diets. J Agric Food Chem 41, 1961–1967.
Frankenfeld CL, Patterson RE, Horner NK, Neuhouser ML, Skor HE, Kalhorn TF et al. (2003). Validation of a soy food-frequency questionnaire and evaluation of correlates of plasma isoflavone concentrations in postmenopausal women. Am J Clin Nutr 77, 674–680.
Frankenfeld CL, Patterson RE, Kalhorn TF, Skor HE, Howald WN, Lampe JW (2002). Validation of a soy food frequency questionnaire with plasma concentrations of isoflavones in US adults. J Am Diet Assoc 102, 1407–1413.
Giovannucci E, Rimm EB, Ascherio A, Colditz GA, Spiegelman D, Stampfer HJ et al. (1999). Smoking and risk of total and fatal prostate cancer in United States health professionals. Cancer Epidemiol Bio Prev 8, 277–282.
Goldberg GR, Black AE, Jebb SA, Cole TJ, Murgatroyd PR, Coward WA et al. (1991). Critical evaluation of energy intake data using fundamental principles of energy physiology: 1. Derivation of cut-off limits to identify under-recording. [Review] [39 refs]. Eur J Clin Nut 45, 569–581.
Griffiths K, Denis L, Turkes A, Morton MS (1998). Possible relationship between dietary factors and pathogenesis of prostate cancer. Int J Urol 5, 195–213.
Holland B, Brown J, Buss DH (1993). Fish and Fish Products: Third Supplement to the 5th Edition of McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.
Holland B, Welch A, Buss DH (1988). Cereals and Cereal Products: Third Supplement to the 4th Edition of McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.
Holland B, Welch A, Buss DH (1989). Milk Products and Eggs: Fourth Supplement to the 4th Edition of McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.
Holland B, Welch A, Buss DH (1991a). Vegetables, Herbs and Spices: Fifth Supplement to the 4th Edition of McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.
Holland B, Welch A, Unwin ID, Buss DH, Paul AA, Southgate DAT (1991b). McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods 5th edn, Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.
Holland B, Welch A, Buss DH (1992a). Fruit and Nuts: First Supplement to the 5th Edition of McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.
Holland B, Welch A, Buss DH (1992b). Vegetable Dishes: Second Supplement to the 5th Edition of McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.
Horn-Ross PL, Barnes S, Lee M, Coward L, Mandel E, Koo J et al. (2000a). Assessing phytoestrogen exposure in epidemiologic studies: development of a database (United States). Cancer Causes Control 11, 289–298.
Horn-Ross PL, Lee M, John EM, Koo J (2000b). Sources of phytoestrogen exposure among non-Asian women in California, USA. Cancer Causes Control 11, 299–302.
Huang MH, Harrison GG, Mohamed MM, Gornbein JA, Henning SM, Go VLW et al. (2000). Assessing the accuracy of a food frequency questionnaire for estimating usual intake of phytoestrogens. Nutr Cancer 37, 145–154.
Hunter D (1998). Biochemical indicators of dietary intake. In: ed Willett WC (ed). Nutritional Epidemiology. Oxford University Press: New York, pp 174–243.
Kirk P, Patterson RE, Lampe J (1999). Development of a soy food frequency questionnaire to estimate isoflavone consumption in US adults. J Am Diet Assoc 99, 558–563.
Kuzer MS, Xu X (1997). Dietary phytoestrogens. Annu Rev Nutr 17, 353–381.
Landis J, Koch GG (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics 33, 159–174.
Liggins J, Bluck LJ, Runswick S, Atkinson C, Coward WA, Bingham SA (2000a). Daidzein and genistein contents of vegetables. Br J Nutr 84, 717–725.
Liggins J, Bluck LJC, Runswick S, Atkinson C, Coward WA, Bingham SA (2000b). Daidzein and genistein content of fruits and nuts. J Nutr Biochem 11, 326–331.
Maskarinec G, Singh S, Meng L, Franke AA (1998). Dietary soy intake and urinary isoflavone excretion among women from a multiethnic population. Cancer Epidemiol Bio Prev 7, 613–619.
Masson LF, McNeill G, Tomany JO, Simpson JA, Peace HS, Wei L et al. (2003). Statistical approaches for assessing the relative validity of a food-frequency questionnaire: use of correlation coefficients and the kappa statistic. Public Health Nutr 6, 313–321.
Mazur W (1998). Phytoestrogen content in foods. Bailliere's Clin Endocrinol Metab 12, 729–742.
Morton MS, Arisaka O, Miyake N, Morgan LD, Evans BA (2002). Phytoestrogen concentrations in serum from Japanese men and women over forty years of age. J Nutr 132, 3168–3171.
Morton MS, Chan PS, Cheng C, Blacklock N, Matos-Ferreira A, Abranches-Monteiro L et al. (1997). Lignans and isoflavonoids in plasma and prostatic fluid in men: samples from Portugal, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom. Prostate 32, 122–128.
Morton MS, Wilcox G, Wahlqvist ML, Griffiths K (1994). Determination of lignans and isoflavonoids in human female plasma following dietary supplementation. J Endocrinol 142, 251–259.
Muir CS, Nectoux J, Staszewski J (1991). The epidemiology of prostatic cancer: geographical distribution and time-trends. Acta Oncol 30, 133–140.
Mulligan AA, Luben RN, Welch AA, Bingham SA (2002). Daidzein and genistein intakes in England (the EPIC Norfolk cohort). IARC Sci Publ 156, 369–370.
Murphy PA, Song T, Buseman G, Barua K, Beecher GR, Trainer D, Holden J (1999). Isoflavones in retail and institutional soy foods. J Agric Food Chem 47, 2697–2704.
Parkin DM, Muir CS (1992). Cancer incidence in five continents Vol. VI. comparability and quality of data. IARC Sci Publ 45–173.
Ritchie MR, The Isoflavone Database (2004). http://medicine.st-and.ac.uk/research/docs/ritchie/.
Ritchie MR, Morton MS, Deighton N, Blake A, Cummings JH (2004a). Plasma and urinary phyto-oestrogens as biomarkers of intake: validation by duplicate diet analysis. Br J Nutr 91, 447–457.
Ritchie MR, Morton MS, Deighton N, Blake A, Steel CM, Cummings JH (2004b). Plasma and urine concentrations of isoflavones as biomarkers of phyto-oestrogen intake following dietary soy supplementation. Evidence-Based Integr Med 1, 101–112.
Ritchie MR, Cummings JH, Morton MS, Steel CM, Bolton-Smith C, Riches AC (2005). A newly constructed and validated isoflavone database for the assessment of total genistein and daidzein intake. Br J Nutr (in press).
Rowland I, Wiseman H, Sanders T, Adlercreutz H, Bowey E (1999). Metabolism of oestrogens and phytoestrogen: role of the gut microflora. Biochem Soc Trans 27, 304–308.
Rowland IR, Wiseman H, Sanders TAB, Adlercreutz H, Bowey EA (2000). Interindividual variation in metabolism of soy isoflavones and lignans: Influence of habitual diet on equol production by the gut microflora. Nutr Cancer 36, 27–32.
Schofield WN (1985). Predicting basal metabolic rate, new standards and review of previous work. Human Nutr Clin Nutr 39 (Suppl 1), 5–41.
Seow A, Shi CY, Franke AA, Hankin JH, Lee HP, Yu MC (1998). Isoflavonoid levels in spot urine are associated with frequency of dietary soy intake in a population-based sample of middle-aged and older Chinese in Singapore. Cancer Epidemiol Bio Prev 7, 135–140.
Setchell KD (1998). Phytoestrogens: the biochemistry, physiology, and implications for human health of soy isoflavones. Am J Clin Nutr 68, 1333S–1346S.
Sharp L, Little J, Brockton N, Cotton SC, Haites NE, Cassidy J (2002). Intake of folate and related micronutrients, genetic polymorphisms in MTHFR and colorectal cancer: A population-based case-control study in Scotland. J Nutr 132, 3542S.
Uehara M, Arai Y, Watanabe S, Adlercreutz H (2000). Comparison of plasma and urinary phytoestrogens in Japanese and Finnish women by time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay. Biofactors 12, 217–225.
Verkasalo PK, Appleby PN, Allen NE, Davey G, Adlercreutz H, Key TJ (2001). Soya intake and plasma concentrations of daidzein and genistein: validity of dietary assessment among eighty British women (Oxford arm of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition). Br J Nutr 86, 415–421.
Wakai K, Egami I, Kato K, Kawamura T, Tamakoshi A, Lin Y et al. (1999). Dietary intake and sources of isoflavones among Japanese. Nutr Cancer 33, 139–145.
Watanabe S, Yamaguchi M, Sobue T, Takahashi T, Miura T, Arai Y et al. (1998). Pharmacokinetics of soybean isoflavones in plasma, urine and faeces of men after ingestion of 60 g baked soybean powder (Kinako). J Nutr 128, 1710–1715.
Yamamoto S, Sobue T, Sasaki S, Kobayashi M, Arai Y, Uehara M et al. (2001). Validity and reproducibility of a self-administered food-frequency questionnaire to assess isoflavone intake in a Japanese population in comparison with dietary records and blood and urine isoflavones. J Nutr 131, 2741–2747.
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr Geraldine McNeil and colleagues for their support with the SCG-FFQ, and Polly Sommerville and Morag Leitch for their help with the FFQ scanning and data collection. This study was part of the PCANDIET Study, supported by CSA 4718 from the Food Standards Agency.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Guarantor: C. Heald.
Contributors: CH conducted the study and prepared the first and final draft of the manuscript, CB-S assisted with the methodology and analysis and contributed to the manuscript, MR created the isoflavone database as used in the study and contributed to the manuscript, MM carried out the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of the samples and contributed to the manuscript, FA assisted with the study design and methodology and contributed to the manuscript.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Heald, C., Bolton-Smith, C., Ritchie, M. et al. Phyto-oestrogen intake in Scottish men: use of serum to validate a self-administered food-frequency questionnaire in older men. Eur J Clin Nutr 60, 129–135 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602277
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602277
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Estimated dietary phytoestrogen intake and major food sources among women during the year before pregnancy
Nutrition Journal (2011)
-
Isoflavone concentration of soybean meal from various origins and transfer of isoflavones into milk of dairy cows
Journal für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit (2011)