title: The impact of equol-producing status in modifying the effect of soya isoflavones on risk factors for CHD: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials.
abstract: Recent studies suggest that the ability to produce equol, a metabolite of the soya isoflavone daidzein, is beneficial to coronary health. Equol, generated by bacterial action on isoflavones in the human gut, is biologically more potent than dietary sources of isoflavones. Not all humans are equol producers. We investigated whether equol-producing status is favourably associated with risk factors for CHD following an intervention by dietary soya isoflavones. We systematically reviewed randomised controlled trials (RCT) that evaluated the effect of soya isoflavones on risk factors for CHD and that reported equol-producing status. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Ovid Medline and the Cochrane Central Register for Controlled Trials published up to April 2015 and hand-searched bibliographies to identify the RCT. Characteristics of participants and outcomes measurements were extracted and qualitatively analysed. From a total of 1671 studies, we identified forty-two articles that satisfied our search criteria. The effects of equol on risk factors for CHD were mainly based on secondary analyses in these studies, thus with inadequate statistical power. Although fourteen out of the forty-two studies found that equol production after a soya isoflavone intervention significantly improved a range of risk factors including cholesterol and other lipids, inflammation and blood pressure variables, these results need further verification by sufficiently powered studies. The other twenty-eight studies primarily reported null results. RCT of equol, which has recently become available as a dietary supplement, on CHD and its risk factors are awaited.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Department of Epidemiology , University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Rahel L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Birru
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Department of Epidemiology , University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Vasudha
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ahuja
authors.affiliation: Health Sciences Center , West Virginia University , Morgantown , WV , USA.
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vishnu
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Department of Epidemiology , University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Rhobert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Cardiology , National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center , Suita , Osaka , Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
authors.affiliation: Center for Epidemiologic Research in Asia , Shiga University of Medical Science , Seta-Tsukinowa-cho , Otsu , Shiga 520-2192 , Japan.
authors.forename: Katsuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Institute , National Hospital Organization , Kyoto Medical Center , Kyoto , Kyoto 612-8555 , Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Usui
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Department of Epidemiology , University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sekikawa
keywords: CHD; Equol; HDL-C, HDL-cholesterol; LDL-C, LDL-cholesterol; RCT, randomised controlled trial; Risk factors; Soya isoflavones