EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF SOYBEAN MILK AND SOYBEAN MILK PEPTIDE ON BONE METABOLISM IN THE RAT MODEL WITH OVARIECTOMIZED OSTEOPOROSIS

We have reported that soybean milk is an excellent source for increasi ng bone mineral density (BMD) and mechanical bone strength. However, i t is not known what kind of components in soybean milk affect bone met abolism. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to find the effect ive components in soybean milk on bone metabolism. It might be some pe ptide in soybean milk. Therefore, in this study the soybean milk was s eparated into two different preparations according to molecular weight : a high-molecular-weight soybean milk, and a low-molecular-weight soy bean milk. Then, the effect of the peptides in soybean milk on bone me tabolism was examined. After producing the experimental osteoporotic m odel rats, they were divided into four groups. The BMD and the mechani cal bone strength of the three experimental groups, whose diet contain ed a soybean milk, a high-molecular soybean milk, or a low-molecular s oybean milk (soybean milk peptide) were significantly higher than thos e of the control group. Moreover, the intestinal Ca absorption for the three experimental groups was significantly increased. From these res ults, the peptides in the soybean milk are effective for the accelerat ion of the intestinal Ca absorption. It is possible to assume that the mechanism for increasing the BMD and the mechanical strength in the t hree experimental groups was due to increasing the intestinal Ca absor ption by alimenting the soybean milk, the high-molecular soybean milk or the low-molecular soybean milk.