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Research on equol was presented at the general meeting of the Japanese Society of Anti-Aging Medicine
The results of a study entitled "The effect of equol-containing foods in improving AGEs and visceral fat area and their impact on various parameters - a randomized group comparison" conducted by obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Yoshigata Reimi and Sendai General Checkup Clinic was presented at the 2019th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Anti-Aging Medicine, held in Yokohama from June 6th to 14th, 16.
This study was approved by the ethical committee and involved a survey of 57 healthy postmenopausal women (ages 48-69, average age 56±5.37) who gave their consent to participate in the study, to investigate the effects of ingesting foods containing equol on various lifestyle-related disease-related parameters, including AGEs and CT visceral fat area, as well as the improvement of menopausal symptoms. The results are as follows:
- 1. Among all parameters, baPWV* was significantly improved and maintained within the normal range in more subjects in the equol intake group.
- 2. The percentage of subjects with improved AGEs was highest in the equol intake/equol producers group at 75%, followed by the non-equol intake/equol producers, equol intake/non-equol producers, and non-equol intake/non-equol producers (37.5%, 35.0%, and 16.7%), indicating a significant trend for improvement due to equol.
- 3. The percentage of subjects who experienced improvement in visceral fat area was highest in the equol intake/equol producers group at 100%, followed by the equol intake/non-equol producers group, non-equol intake group/equol producers group, and non-equol intake group/non-equol producers group (86.7%, 85.7%, 57.1%), indicating a significant trend for improvement due to equol.
- 4. Regarding menopausal symptoms, equol intake was found to improve the symptoms regardless of whether or not the women had the ability to produce equol.
*baPWV (blood pressure pulse wave): A test that serves as an indicator of blood vessel stiffness. It can be used to check the risk of arteriosclerosis.
The results of this study show that taking equol is effective in suppressing the production of glycated proteins (AGEs), which are said to worsen internal aging, and in reducing visceral fat area. Furthermore, the results show that this effect is expected to have a synergistic effect when combined with the ability to produce equol.
In addition, while the "relief of menopausal symptoms" that has been shown to date has mainly been reported to be effective in non-equol producers, the results of this study indicate that the effect is seen regardless of whether or not the user has the ability to produce equol.
In the future, there are high hopes that equol will be used in new areas such as improving internal aging and dieting.
*The content of this page is current as of July 2019, 6.