Effects of dietary traditional fermented soybean on reproductive hormones, lipids, and glucose among postmenopausal women in northern Thailand.

Isoflavone in soybean and its products have numerous beneficial health effects. A number of clinical studies have demonstrated that dietary soy isoflavone can relieve menopausal symptoms, lower risks of breast cancer, and lower cholesterol and glucose. Among the various effects of isoflavone, the role of cholesterol and glucose reduction seems to be well documented; however, other effects such as reproductive hormones were inconclusive and inconsistent. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of six-month dietary traditional fermented soybean intake on BMI, reproductive hormones, lipids, and glucose among postmenopausal women. Subjects were women with their last menstrual period occurring at least 12 months prior to selection by interview and health screening from Baan Tham Village, Phayao Province, Thailand. A total of 60 women were divided into 2 groups: experimental group (n=31) and reference group (n=29). The experimental group was permitted to continue their usual diet, and supplemented with fermented soybean for 6 months. The fermented soybean provided approximately 60 mg of isoflavone per day. The remarkable findings were that dietary fermented soybean had favorable effects on progesterone and cholesterol, but had no effects on estradiol, glucose, and triglycerides. Although estradiol and glucose in the experimental group did not change, a decrease of estradiol and an increase of glucose were found in the reference group. Our results, therefore, suggest that fermented soybean may have beneficial effects on reproductive hormones and cholesterol, and they would be warrant further detail investigations.

Quality of pharmaceutical items available from drugstores in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Drugstores and drug outlets are the main sources of care for the majority of Cambodian citizens because of the availability of drugs, short waiting time, and ability to control the cost of treatment. Unfortunately, no enforcement of pharmacy regulations and little consumer and drugstore personnel education contribute to a potential harmful unregulated drug market resulting in high costs and prolonged illness. No study has looked at the quality of over-the-counter drugs, which would have the highest impact on the people. In this study, we were interested in exploring the quality of commonly used pharmaceutical items available from drugstores in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, using uncoated aspirin tablets as a case study. Factors relating to quality of the drug were also examined. This study was conducted by means of drug fishing method to obtain uncoated aspirin tablet samples from 96 drugstores in Phnom Penh. The quality of the samples was examined in six aspects: percent label amount, weight variation, hardness, percent friability, disintegration time, and dissolution rate. We found that only seven (7.3%) of the total 96 samples passed all six quality criteria. Dissolution test appeared to be the most critical step in determining aspirin quality. Factors that were statistically related to the quality of the sample were type of packaging. All the drugs that passed the six criteria were in bottles. Source of the medications was also significantly related to their quality. Among seven samples that passed the test, six were from Vietnam. Our study revealed that the quality of uncoated aspirin tablets was a serious problem. The vast majority of the samples did not meet the standard requirements. Type of packaging and source of medications were related to the quality of samples. This study has important implications for the Cambodian government regarding the control of the quality of pharmaceutical items available in drugstores.