

USDA Launches Database of Beneficial
Compounds in Soy FoodsBy Judy McBride April 7, 1999WASHINGTON, April 7--A new U.S.
Department of Agriculture database launched today on the World Wide Web
will help scientists pinpoint which estrogen-like
compoundsisoflavonesin soy foods may be responsible for a lower
risk of cancer, especially breast cancer. "Some of these estrogen-like compounds have been reported to benefit
the cardiovascular system or to reduce bone loss after menopause," said
Agriculture Secretary
Dan Glickman.
"So, the new database could help nutritionists and physicians. They'll be
better equipped to recommend foods with the highest levels of specific
compounds." Scientists with USDA's Agricultural
Research Service compiled the database. It gives values for the major
isoflavones in 128 soy foods and ingredients, said lead scientists Gary Beecher
and Joanne Holden at ARS' Beltsville Human Nutrition
Research Center in Beltsville and Riverdale, Md. Isoflavones, such as daidzein, genistein and glycitein mimic the hormone
estrogen. "They also have antioxidant capability," Beecher said,
"and may perform other functions that enhance health." 
Commercial products were analyzed to arrive at
isoflavone values for some types of foods or food additives. The database gives
isoflavone values for some individual brand names. The new soy isoflavone
database can be found on the web at: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/isoflav/isoflav.html In assembling the database, Beecher, with the
Food Composition
Laboratory, and Holden and colleagues Seema Bhagwat and David Haytowitz
with the Nutrient Data
Laboratory evaluated and compiled some 30 scientific reports of the
isoflavone content of foods. They relied heavily on analyses by collaborator
Patricia
Murphy at Iowa State University in
Ames. The database springs from a larger effort by the ARS researchers to compile
information on health-enhancing phytonutrients in foods. It follows on the
heels of an
database
of carotenoids--such as beta and alpha carotene, lycopene and lutein--in
215 foods. That database was launched last fall. Future plans include a database for food flavonoids, such as catechins in
tea, naringin and taxifolin in citrus and quercitin in onions, apples and red
wine. Scientific contact: Gary Beecher,
Food Composition
Laboratory, or David Haytowitz,
Nutrient Data Laboratory,
ARS Beltsville Human
Nutrition Research Center, Beltsville, Md. Beecher: phone (301) 504-8356,
fax (301) 504-8314, [email protected]. Haytowitz:
phone (301) 734-5635, fax (301) 734-8498,
[email protected]. U.S. Department of Agriculture | |