Cancer Lett. 1997 Mar; 114(1-2): 145-51.

Measurement and metabolism of isoflavonoids and lignans in the human male.

Morton MS, Matos-Ferreira A, Abranches-Monteiro L, Correia R, Blacklock N, Chan PS, Cheng C, Lloyd S, Chieh-ping W, Griffiths K.

Tenovus Cancer Research Centre, U.W.C.M., Cardiff, UK.

Asian men, who consume a low fat/high fibre soya-based diet, have very much lower incidence of prostate cancer than men from North America and Europe. The soya bean is a rich source of the isoflavonic phyto-oestrogens, daidzein, genistein and equol, compounds which may be cancer-protective in Asian populations. The lignans, enterolactone and enterodiol, plant oestrogens derived from cereals and vegetables, may act in a similar manner in vegetarian men. We report here on the measurement of isoflavonoids and lignans, by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, in prostatic fluid of men from Asia and Europe and also on the metabolism of these compounds in Western men following dietary supplementation.