5 and 16.3 mg/day/kg body weight of the infant, considering all products and ages, with a mean intake of 9.2 mg/day/kg (Table 5). There are no data available

in the literature regarding soyasaponins intake from the ingestion of soybeans. However, Ridout, Wharf, Price, Johnson, and Fenwick (1988) reported that the mean intake of soyasaponins from the consumption of beans, lentils and peas was approximately 110 and 214 mg/day in British and Asian vegetarian adults, respectively. It should be noted that soy belongs to the same botanical family of these legumes and that soyasaponin B-I has been reported in peas (Taylor, Fields, & Sutherland, 2004). The mean intake of soyasaponins in the present study C59 wnt ic50 would be 5.8 and 3.1 times higher than that of British and Asian vegetarians (1.6 and 3.0 mg/day/kg, respectively) (Ridout et al., 1988),

considering an adult with mean body weight of 70 kg. Gurfinkel and Rao (2003) suggested that the potential biological effects of soyasaponins on health are dependent of their chemical structures. However, the bioavailability of soyasaponins in adults is apparently low, as these compounds showed low uptake by human intestinal cells, apparently being metabolised to aglycones by intestinal microorganisms and excreted in faeces (Hu et al., 2004). The ability of infants to digest and absorb soyasaponins is largely unknown. selleckchem Even though the estimated intake of soyasaponins from infant formulas was higher than that of isoflavones, one should not expect more pronounced biological effects from soyasaponins in infants, since these compounds are much less

bioavailable than isoflavones. Bcl-w However, one might expect that soyasaponins could exert a biological effect directly in the gut, possibly by modifying the intestinal microflora. It is noteworthy that the establishment of the intestinal microflora in infants occurs during the first year of life (Stark and Lee, 1982), which coincides with the period when infant formulas are prescribed. The high estimated daily intake of isoflavones and soyasaponins from soy-based infant formulas when compared to adult populations suggest that the potential biological effects of the consumption of these bioactive compounds by infants should not be overlooked. Moreover, since data regarding the bioavailability of isoflavones and soyasaponins from soy-based infant formulas are scarce, long-term studies are needed to evaluate the safety of a high intake of isoflavones and soyasaponins. To this date, however, there are no reports in the literature that show harmful effects of feeding infants with soy-based formulas. The authors gratefully thanks Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for a master’s degree scholarship and financial support, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) (Brazil) for financial support.