Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2008, 216(4)

Pueraria Mirifica Phytoestrogens Improve Dyslipidemia in Postmenopausal Women Probably by Activating Estrogen Receptor Subtypes

SHINICHI OKAMURA,¹ YOSHIE SAWADA,¹ TETUROU SATOH,² HIRONOSUKE SAKAMOTO,³ YUICHIRO SAITO,³ HIROYUKI SUMINO,³ TAKAKO TAKIZAWA,³ TOSHIAKI KOGURE,⁴ CHIAYO CHAICHANTIPYUTH,⁵ YOSHIHIRO HIGUCHI,⁶ TSUTOMU ISHIKAWA⁷ and TETSUO SAKAMAKI¹

¹Department of Medical Informatics and Decision Sciences, School of Medicine, Gunma University, Maebashi, Japan
²Department of Medicine and Molecular Science, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan
³Department of Medicine and Biological Science, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan
⁴Department of Integrated Japanese Oriental Medicine, School of Medicine, Gunma University, Maebashi, Japan
⁵Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
⁶Central Research Laboratory, Shiratori Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Chiba, Japan
⁷Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Impaired lipid metabolism is an important health problem in postmenopausal women with insufficient estrogens, because dyslipidemia is a risk factor for development of atherosclerosis and the incidence of cardiovascular disease markedly increases after menopause. Pueraria mirifica (PM), a Thai herb, has been noticed as a source of phytoestrogens, estrogen-mimicking plant compounds. However, the clinical effects of PM on lipid metabolism and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain undetermined. Therefore, we examined the effects of PM on serum lipid parameters in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Nineteen postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to receive oral administration of PM powder or placebo. After 2 months of treatment, the PM group showed a significant increase in serum concentrations of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and apolipoprotein (apo) A-1 (34% and 40%, respectively), and a significant decrease in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and apo B (17% and 9%, respectively), compared with baseline measurements.

keywords —— Pueraria mirifica; Phytoestrogen; Lipid metabolism; Estrogen; Menopause.

© 2008 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2008, 216, 341-351

Correspondence: Tetsuo Sakamaki, Department of Medical Informatics and Decision Sciences, School of Medicine, Gunma University, Maebashi 371-8511, Japan.

e-mail: sakamakt@showa.gunma-u.ac.jp