Is green tea consumption the key to making equol? Pubmed

[michael barry]

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2003 Aug-Dec;4(4):297-301.

Higher consumption of green tea may enhance equol production.
Miyanaga N, Akaza H, Takashima N, Nagata Y, Sonoda T, Mori M, Naito S, Hirao Y, Tsukamoto T, Fujioka T.

Department of Urology, Post-graduate University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8575, Japan. akazah@md.tsukuba.ac.jp

BACKGROUND: Our previous case-control study revealed that Japanese living in Japan and Koreans living in Korea can be divided into equol producers who have an ability to metabolize daidzein to equol and non-producers, and that the incidence of prostate cancer is higher in the latter group. In the present study, we examined relationships between type of food intake and the capacity for equol production in Japanese subjects. METHODS: The subjects were the individuals analyzed for the ability to produce equol in our previous study and newly registered cases. From December 2000 to December 2002, 276 hospitalized patients were interviewed face-to-face and blood samples were collected before breakfast. These included 122 patients with prostate cancer and 154 age-matched controls. RESULTS: The frequency of equol producers (0.5 ng/ml or more) among cases and controls was 29% and 45%, respectively (p = 0.004). The consumption of soybeans and green tea were significantly higher in equol producers than in the non-producers (p<0.05). By contrast, the consumption of selenium and fiber was significantly lower in equol producers (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that higher consumption of soybean and green tea are strongly related to the establishment of a capacity for equol production.
PMID: 14728586 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]



Perhaps if one uses both soy and green tea, they will be much more likely to produce equol. If someone liked drinking soy milk everyday, and wanted to reduce the effects of DHT, I guess they could drink some green tea or supplement with it also.

I remember that the mice with the lowest DHT in the tea experiments were the ones who were given both soy and green tea. Here was the chart:
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/vol133/ ... 69002.jpeg

 

[follicle84]

Yes i've heard only certain people can produce this equol, which binds dht. Is there any way an average person can get tested for this?

 

[michael barry]

Yes i've heard only certain people can produce this equol, which binds dht. Is there any way an average person can get tested for this?

I know that can be scientifically done, because its been done in experiments, but I dont know if its commerically done by any labs.

One thing that I have read about equol that interested me was that when castrated rats were injected with DHT, the equol kept it from having an effect on their prostate-sizes. Equol apparently binds with DHT like globulin binds with testosterone, "carrying" it around in a bound and unuseable form.


I remember reading a long while ago one article that seemed to indicate the longer one used soy, the more likely they would be to produce equol. Apparently using green tea along with it increases one's chances of making the stuff. The bacteria in a person's stomach is supposed to be involved in its (equol's) production. Its interesting. I take a synthetic 5-AR inhibitior myself, but this is interesting.

 

[Cassin]

So Micheal... How much green tea should we drink a day?

 

[vauxall]

How much green tea should we drink a day?

Green tea sold in the west of the world has much more caffeine and much less polyphenols than the one sold in Japan. Unless you want to order Gyokuro from Japan, you probably want to drink White Tea, which has more phenols and less caffeine. I think you can safely drink up to 5-6 cups of good quality white tea a day.