Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Systematic review and meta-analysis on the effect of soy on thyroid function

Otun, Jemiliat; Sahebkar, Amirhossein; Östlundh, Linda; Atkin, Stephen L; Sathyapalan, Thozhukat

Authors

Jemiliat Otun

Amirhossein Sahebkar

Linda Östlundh

Stephen L Atkin



Abstract

© 2019, The Author(s). Soy foods have had an important dietary role in Asian countries for centuries, and in recent years they have become increasingly popular in Western countries as a result of their suggested health benefits. Nevertheless, there are some concerns that soy can have a negative effect on thyroid function and can alter the levels of thyroid hormones. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the link between soy or soy product consumption and thyroid function via the measurement of thyroid hormone levels. A systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken on all randomised controlled trials of studies including soy as an intervention and where free triiodothyronine (fT3), free thyroxine (fT4) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) was measured. The search included PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane and sources for the grey literature. Quantitative data synthesis was performed using a random-effects model, with standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval as summary statistics. A total of 18 articles were suitable for review. The meta-analysis showed no significant changes in fT3 (WMD: 0.027 pmol/L, 95% CI: −0.052, 0.107, p = 0.499; I 2 : 55.58%), fT4 (WMD: −0.003 pmol/L, 95% CI: −0.018, 0.011, p = 0.656; I 2 : 87.58%) while an elevation in TSH levels was observed (WMD: 0.248 mIU/L, 95% CI: 0.001, 0.494, p = 0.049; I 2 : 80.31%) levels with soy supplementation. There was no evidence of publication bias. Soy supplementation has no effect on the thyroid hormones and only very modestly raises TSH levels, the clinical significance, if any, of the rise in TSH is unclear.

Citation

Otun, J., Sahebkar, A., Östlundh, L., Atkin, S. L., & Sathyapalan, T. (2019). Systematic review and meta-analysis on the effect of soy on thyroid function. Scientific reports, 9(1), Article 3964. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-40647-x

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 20, 2019
Online Publication Date Mar 8, 2019
Publication Date Dec 1, 2019
Deposit Date Mar 8, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 8, 2019
Journal Scientific Reports
Print ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher Nature Publishing Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 9
Issue 1
Article Number 3964
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-40647-x
Keywords Multihormonal system disorders; Thyroid diseases
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1365561
Publisher URL https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-40647-x
Contract Date Mar 8, 2019

Files

Published article (2.8 Mb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.






You might also like



Downloadable Citations