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3 Division of Pathology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229; 4 Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229; and 5 Sanitarium Development and Innovation, Cooranbong, NSW 2265, Australia
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kenneth.setchell{at}cchmc.org.
7-Hydroxy-3-(4'-hydroxyphenyl)-chroman (S-equol) is a specific end-metabolite formed in the biotransformation of the dietary soy isoflavones daidzin and daidzein by intestinal bacteria. The frequency of equol production varies among individuals and populations, and it is suggested that the efficacy of soy foods differs depending on the ability of an individual to produce equol. To develop a standardized approach to define equol-producer status that can be universally adopted to differentiate these 2 distinct populations, we measured isoflavones in serum and urine collected from a cohort of 41 healthy adults, comprising 29 vegetarians and 12 nonvegetarians, after consuming 2 x 250 mL/d soy milk on 3 consecutive days. Serum and urinary daidzein and S-equol concentrations were analyzed by MS. Serum S-equol and daidzein concentrations ranged from 10.3139 nmol/L (2.533.6 µg/L) and 161401 nmol/L (4.0356 µg/L), respectively, whereas in urine the corresponding concentrations ranged from 1612,574 nmol/L (43043 µg/L) and 53926,834 nmol/L (1376816 µg/L), respectively. The log10-transformed urinary S-equol:daidzein ratio provided a clearer distinction of equol-producer status than the absolute serum or urinary S-equol concentrations because it is independent of isoflavone intake and minimizes interindividual variation in isoflavone pharmacokinetics or differences in analytical methodologies. A threshold value for the log10-transformed urinary S-equol:daidzein ratio of 1.75 provided a demarcation to define equol-producer status. The frequency of equol producers in the vegetarians was 59%, similar to the reported frequency in Japanese adults consuming soy, and much higher than for nonvegetarian adults (25%), suggesting that dietary components other than soy influence S-equol synthesis by intestinal bacteria.
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