What is the function of genistein?

Atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, role in heart disease

A rabbit study shows supplementation reduces the risk for hardening of the arteries.

Cardiovascular effects of the phytoestrogen genistein.
Genistein in vitro relaxes rat arteries by a nitric oxide dependent mechanism and enhances the dilator response to acetylcholine of atherosclerotic arteries. Genistein supplementation improves endothelial dysfunction induced by oophorectomy in rats and reduces infarct size in an experimental model of myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Furthermore, genistein in postmenopausal women increases plasma nitric oxide breakdown products, reduces endothelin-1 levels and improves endothelial dependent vasodilation in post-menopausal women. All these findings, taken together, would suggest that this molecule might represent an attractive alternative for cardiovascular protection.

Blood pressure management, use for hypertension
Chronic soy milk consumption has modest, but significant hypotensive action in those with hypertension. This hypotensive action was correlated with the urinary excretion of the isoflavone genistein. Genistein helps produce more nitric oxide, a powerful chemical in the blood stream that helps dilate blood vessels.

Genistein treat Cancer
Soy isoflavones may have an important role in reducing the incidence of breast, colon, cervix and prostate cancers. Genistein, the predominant isoflavone found in soy, has been shown to inhibit carcinogenesis in animal models. There is a growing body of experimental evidence that shows the inhibition of human cancer cells by genistein through the modulation of genes that are related to the control of cell cycle and apoptosis.

Genistein treat breast cancer
Soy isoflavones suppress invasiveness of breast cancer cells by the inhibition of NF-kappaB/AP-1-dependent and -independent pathways.
The chemopreventive effect of the soy isoflavone, genistein, has been observed through the suppression of cell proliferation, inhibition of angiogenesis and stimulation of apoptosis in breast carcinoma cells. Cancer metastasis consists of interdependent processes, including cell adhesion, migration and invasion. In the present study, we compare the effect of soy isoflavones in the form of aglycones (genistein, daidzein and glycitein) and glucosides (genistin, daidzin and glycitin) on the behavior of highly invasive breast cancer cells. Here we demonstrate that genistein suppresses cell adhesion and migration by inhibiting the constitutively active transcription factors NF-kappaB and AP-1, resulting in the suppression of secretion of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) in breast cancer cells. Our results suggest that dietary soy isoflavones inhibit adhesion and motility of highly invasive breast cancer cells by distinct signaling pathways.

Dietary phytoestrogen intake and premenopausal breast cancer risk in a German case-control study.

A diet high in isoflavonoids is associated with lower breast cancer risk in Asian populations. Due to the low soy intake, dietary lignans may be the more important phytoestrogen class in Western populations. We used a population-based case-control study of breast cancer by age 50 in southern Germany to evaluate the association between dietary intake of different phytoestrogens and premenopausal breast cancer risk. Using multivariate logistic regression, the highest vs. lowest intake quartiles of daidzein and genistein yielded significantly reduced ORs for breast cancer risk of 0.62 and 0.47, respectively. The protective effects of daidzein and genistein were found only for hormone receptor-positive tumors. High intake of other isoflavonoids, e.g., formononetin and biochanin A, as well as the sum of isoflavonoids were not associated with a decrease in risk. Breast cancer risk significantly decreased with a high intake of the plant lignan matairesinol but not secoisolariciresinol or the sum of plant lignans. No effect was found for total phytoestrogen intake. Our results suggest an important role of dietary intake of daidzein and genistein, despite low levels, as well as of matairesinol and mammalian lignans to reduce premenopausal breast cancer risk in this study population.

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