This study aimed to investigate the effects of soy isoflavones on cardiometabolic risk markers and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
This secondary analysis was based on a 12-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 50 adults with NAFLD. Participants received either 100 mg/day soy isoflavones or placebo. Evaluated outcomes included fatty liver index (FLI), hepatic steatosis index (HSI), fatty liver score (FLS), BMI, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), triglycerides (TG), BAAT score, triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index, Castelli risk indices I and II (CRI-I, CRI-II), TG/HDL-C ratio, atherogenic coefficient (AC), atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), lipoprotein combine index (LCI), cholesterol index (CHOLINDEX), lipid accumulation product (LAP), body adiposity index (BAI), visceral adiposity index (VAI), metabolic score for visceral fat (METS-VF), visceral adipose tissue (VAT), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and TAC.
After 12 weeks, FLI decreased significantly in both the soy isoflavones [−13.8 (95% CI: −21.7 to −5.9), p < 0.01] and placebo groups [−7.5 (95% CI: −13.2 to −1.8), p = 0.01]. HSI improved only in the soy isoflavones group [−2.4 (95% CI: −4.6 to −0.2), p = 0.03]. Soy isoflavones reduced TG/HDL-C ratio [−1.4 (95% CI: −2.5 to −0.3), p = 0.01] and TyG index [−0.42 (95% CI: −0.73 to −0.11), p = 0.01]. Significant between-group differences were observed for CRI-II, LAP, BAI and VAI after adjustment for confounders. TAC did not change.
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to comprehensively evaluate the effects of soy isoflavones on cardiometabolic and adiposity-related indices in NAFLD patients.
