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Soyfood consumption and risk of glycosuria: a cross-sectional study within the Shanghai Women's Health Study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 58, pages 615–620 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: To assess the association between soyfood intake and risk of glycosuria.

Design and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among participants of the Shanghai Women's Health Study, a population-based cohort study of women aged 40–70 y. Information on usual intake of soyfoods was obtained at baseline survey through an in-person interview using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Included in this study were 39,385 cohort members screened for diabetes at the baseline survey and free of previously diagnosed diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, and cancer. There were 323 women who tested positive for urine glucose. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were employed to measure the association between soyfood intake and glycosuria using unconditional logistic regression.

Setting: Urban communities of Shanghai, China.

Results: Overall, soyfood intake was not related to the risk of glycosuria. Among postmenopausal women, however, intake of tofu and other soy products was inversely associated with risk of glycosuria after adjustment for potential confounders. The ORs across quintiles of intake were 1.0, 0.75 (95% CI=0.47–1.20), 0.79 (95% CI=0.51–1.25), 0.53 (95% CI=0.32–0.88), and 0.51 (95% CI=0.26–0.98; P for trend=0.05). Further analyses showed that the inverse association was primarily confined to postmenopausal women with a body mass index (BMI) of <25 kg/m2. The adjusted OR comparing the extreme quintiles was 0.36 (95% CI=0.13–0.97; P for trend=0.004).

Conclusions: Soyfoods may play a role in the development of glycosuria, an important indicator of diabetes, among postmenopausal women with a low BMI.

Sponsorship: The study was supported partially by USPHS Grant R01CA70867.

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Acknowledgements

We thank doctors and health workers in the study communities for their important contributions. We also thank Dr Wong-Ho Chow for helpful comments and suggestions on the manuscript, Drs Xiu-Zhen Li, Pei-Lan Zhu, Hong-Xing Xu, and Da-ke Liu for help in study implementation, and Dr Wan-qing Wen for statistical consultation in data analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Health Service Research, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    G Yang, XO Shu, T Elasy, X L Zhang & W Zheng

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Shanghai, China

    F Jin, H L Li, Q Li, F Huang & Y T Gao

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  1. G Yang
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  2. XO Shu
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Contributions

Guarantor: G Yang.

Contributors: GY and XOS contributed to the design, analysis and manuscript preparation for the study. FJ, HLL, QL, FH and YTG were responsible for the field study including data collection, sample collection, and laboratory analyses. TE and XLZ contributed to the manuscript preparation. WZ was the principal investigator of the Shanghai Women's Health Study responsible for the overall design and implementation of the study, as well as manuscript preparation.

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Correspondence to G Yang.

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Yang, G., Shu, X., Jin, F. et al. Soyfood consumption and risk of glycosuria: a cross-sectional study within the Shanghai Women's Health Study. Eur J Clin Nutr 58, 615–620 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601855

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601855

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