The hypocholesterolemic and hormone modulation effects of isoflavones alone or co-fermented with probiotic bacteria in hypercholesterolemic rats model

This study aimed to investigate the beneficial effect of isoflavones alone or probiotics-co-fermented isoflavones on serum and hepatic lipid profile, serum steroid (SHs) and thyroid hormones (THs) of hypercholesterolemic rats (N = 48). Animals were fed for 8 weeks with probiotics-co-fermented isoflavones or isoflavones alone, beside high-fat-high-cholesterol diet. Serum was analyzed for cholesterols, triglycerides (TG), SHs and THs. Results demonstrated that the given treatments significantly decreased serum total-cholesterol (TC), low-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL/HDL ratio, and increased TG, compared to controls. The probiotics-co-fermented isoflavones decreased TC, LDL-C and LDL/HDL ratio more effectively than isoflavones alone. Also, both isoflavones treatments induced a hyperthyroidism state, as the levels of T-T4, T-T3 and fT3 significantly increased. In addition, these treatments decreased testosterone and increased cortisol levels. Thus, isoflavones-containing-treatments, particularly probiotics-co-fermented isoflavones, could reduce CVD incidence by controlling lipid profile; and this control could in part be due to modulation of SHs and THs.