Can ‘Activated Foods’ Activate Quality of Life?
Soybeans that undergo environmental stress produce glyceollins, which are chemicals that have beneficial to human health. (Photo by Scott Bauer)
Researchers in Louisiana are taking advantage of serendipity to create a food group that may be able to fight some diseases in a whole new way.
Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Food Processing and Sensory Quality (FSPQ) research unit in New Orleans are using surprising findings from a breast cancer research project to create “Activated Foods.” These foods contain compounds called phytoalexins and glyceollins, which may promote antidiabetic, anti-obesity, and anticancer activities.
Plants produce phytoalexins, which are classified as antifungal compounds, in response to environmental stresses. In soy plants, these antifungal compounds are called glyceollins.
“We started off looking at the antifungal properties of glyceollins and, in collaboration with Tulane Cancer Center Researcher’s Matthew Burow, discovered their anticancer activities,” said Stephen Boue, a chemist at FSPQ. Burow was conducting breast cancer studies at the time. “Our research looked at properties of phytoalexins related to anticancer activity. We focused on the soybean.”
While soy has been extensively studied, Boue said that scientists have only been looking into the health-promoting properties of glyceollins for about 15 years.
According to Boue, several tests examined glyceollins’ ability to hinder absorption of dietary fat and glucose in animals. Oral glucose tolerance tests showed a significant decrease in the animals’ blood glucose levels.
“The animal study we completed showed that the soy pod (fiber) changed the gut’s bacterial population and hindered absorption of dietary fat and glucose,” Boue said. “Glyceollins have been shown to improve glucose homeostasis in rodents. We still need to do more research to find the other benefits of the glyceollins related to their anticancer activity.”
Based on the animal study with soy pods, researchers have expanded tests to human subjects in a pilot study. According to Boue, research collaborator Candida Rebello, director of the Nutrition and Chronic Disease Program at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, LA, conducted a safety and tolerability study on soy pod flour in older adults with obesity.
Participants in the study ranging in age from 70-85 ate foods containing soy pod flour for one week at three different doses. The soy pod fiber foods tended to make the participants feel very full. Boue and Rebello co-authored a paper on the study. Rebello is now conducting a study in older adults to test the effect of soybean flour (made from soybean seeds that were cut and incubated to induce glyceollins) on blood glucose control.
“Studies of glyceollins are ongoing to determine if there are (more) health-promoting effects observed in animal studies,” Boue said. “We are working on other types of value-added foods from rice and sugarcane, but we need more time to complete studies.” – by Scott Elliott, ARS Office of Communications
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