Prospective association of dietary soy and fibre intake with puberty timing: a cohort study among Chinese children

Abstract

Abstracts Background Dietary phytoestrogens have been suggested to influence puberty timing, a critical stage for well-being in adulthood. We hypothesized that childhood soy intake might prospectively influence puberty timing and that dietary fibre and the key isoflavone metabolite equol might play roles. Methods Cox proportional hazard regression models were performed in 4781 children (2152 girls and 2629 boys) aged 6–8 years old from the Chinese Adolescent Cohort Study for whom a food frequency questionnaire at baseline and information about potential confounders were available. Anthropometry and pubertal status including age at Tanner stage 2 for breast development (B2) or age at the initiation of gonadal growth (G2), and age at menarche (M) or voice break (VB) were assessed annually. Equol excretion was determined by urine samples from 1311 participants. Results Among girls and boys, higher soy intake was associated with later puberty timing (hazard ratio (HR)-B2: 0.88 (95% CI, 0.80–0.96), p=0.02; HR-M, 0.87 (0.77–0.94), p=0.01; HR-G2, 0.91 (0.82–0.98), p=0.013; HR-VB, 0.90 (0.82–0.9), p=0.02), independent of prepubertal body fatness and fibre intake. These associations were more pronounced among children with a high urinary equol level (pfor-interaction ≤ 0.04) or with a high cereal fibre intake (pfor-interaction ≤ 0.06). Intake of dietary fibre or its subtype was not prospectively associated with puberty onset after adjusting for dietary soy intake (p≥0.06). Conclusion Higher childhood soy intake is prospectively associated with later puberty timing in both Chinese girls and boys, independent of prepubertal body fatness, and the association is particularly pronounced among individuals with a higher urinary equol level.

Impact of Physiologically Relevant Genistein Exposure at Different Time Windows on Puberty Onset and Neuroendocrine Function in Female Rats

“…[ 2 ] Nevertheless, impacts of soy isoflavones, a group of dietary endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), on puberty development are inconsistent during infancy and childhood, supporting EDCs exposure at different time windows may impose varied impacts on pubertal timing. [ 3–8 ]…”

“…[2] Nevertheless, impacts of soy isoflavones, a group of dietary endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), on puberty development are inconsistent during infancy and childhood, supporting EDCs exposure at different time windows may impose varied impacts on pubertal timing. [3][4][5][6][7][8] Genistein is the most abundant dietary soy isoflavone. Many animal studies investigated the effects of genistein on the physiology of reproductive system, providing critical contributions but inconsistent findings.…”

Phytoestrogens and Health Effects

“…This suggests that the isoflavone levels that were higher in these formulas (delivering from 9 to 11 mg isoflavones/kg bodyweight/day) is important for the resulting effect. In [ 240 ], the puberty was delayed in Chinese children that were essentially breastfed during infancy but received substantial amounts of isoflavones daily during childhood. This indicates that the physiological modifications due to an exposure to significant levels of isoflavones are different according to the time of exposure (infancy or childhood).…”

Plant-Based Diet during the Prepubertal Period and Age at Menarche: A Systematic Review

“…Soybeans contain high concentrations of isoflavones, one of the Plant-based diet and menarche main groups of phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogens are plant compounds that are structurally and functionally similar to endogenous estrogens so that they can also influence the sexual maturity of children (Jefferson et al 2012;Segovia-Siapco et al 2014;Xiong et al 2022). Adgent et al (2012) studied the effect of soy-based infant feeding on the age at menarche.…”