Soy and Frequent Dairy Consumption with Subsequent Equol Production Reveals Decreased Gut Health in a Cohort of Healthy Puerto Rican Women.

The U.S. Hispanic female population has one of the highest breast cancer (BC) incidence and mortality rates, while BC is the leading cause of cancer death in Puerto Rican women. Certain foods may predispose to carcinogenesis. Our previous studies indicate that consuming combined soy isoflavones (genistein, daidzein, and glycitein) promotes tumor metastasis possibly through increased protein synthesis activated by equol, a secondary dietary metabolite. Equol is a bacterial metabolite produced in about 20-60% of the population that harbor and exhibit specific gut microbiota capable of producing it from daidzein. The aim of the current study was to investigate the prevalence of equol production in Puerto Rican women and identify the equol producing microbiota in this understudied population. Herein, we conducted a cross-sectional characterization of equol production in a clinically based sample of eighty healthy 25-50 year old Puerto Rican women. Urine samples were collected and evaluated by GCMS for the presence of soy isoflavones and metabolites to determine the ratio of equol producers to equol non-producers. Furthermore, fecal samples were collected for gut microbiota characterization on a subset of women using next generation sequencing (NGS). We report that 25% of the participants were classified as equol producers. Importantly, the gut microbiota from equol non-producers demonstrated a higher diversity. Our results suggest that healthy women with soy and high dairy consumption with subsequent equol production may result in gut dysbiosis by having reduced quantities (diversity) of healthy bacterial biomarkers, which might be associated to increased diseased outcomes (e.g., cancer, and other diseases).

Gender differences in social and developmental factors affecting Puerto Rican adolescents during the early stage.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is associated with risky behaviors related with social and developmental factors. Objectives were to describe social and developmental factors affecting Puerto Rican early adolescent by gender and type of school at study entry. METHODS: Cross-sectional study design. The study group was composed by 168 seventh grade adolescents from private and public schools. Descriptive and non-parametric comparisons were performed. RESULTS: Significance differences among proportions for gender by type of school were found in the following variables: self-esteem and HIV/AIDS attitudes in public school and peer pressure and sensation seeking in private school. DISCUSSION: Our study revealed that public school adolescents are characterized by males with higher self-esteem and less attitude for HIV/AIDS, while in private school the males has more peer pressure and seeking sensation than females. Future studies could analyze factors related with changes in developmental factors, this step is important to evaluate the effectiveness of ASUMA interventions.

Changes in HIV/AIDS knowledge among early adolescents in Puerto Rico.

INTRODUCTION: One of the factors that influences HIV risk behavior among early adolescents is their HIV/AIDS knowledge. The objectives of this study were 1) to describe the sociodemographic features and HIV/AIDS knowledge among Puerto Rican early adolescents participating in the ASUMA (A Supportive Model for HIV Risk Reduction in Early Adolescents) project; and 2) to assess changes in the knowledge of HIV/AIDS within the intervention and nonintervention groups after the first year of the study. METHODS: This is a prospective cohort study of 173 early adolescents after 12 months of participation in the ASUMA project. The setting of the study was four junior high schools. Baseline and follow-up self-administered questionnaires were issued to the entire study group. The first workshop was developed directed to increase HIV/AIDS knowledge and decrease vulnerability in the group assigned to the intervention. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed. RESULTS: 47% of adolescents were cases and 52.6% controls. Most adolescents were 12 years old; 50.3% were boys and 49.7% were girls; 78.6% believe that they could have a good conversation with their parents; and 26.3% reported alcohol use at any time in their lives. A significant increase in HIV/AIDS knowledge was found among adolescents from the intervention group (P < .001), while a nonsignificant increase was found among control adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: An increase in HIV/AIDS knowledge was observed among adolescents who participated in the first year of the ASUMA project. This study illustrates the importance of the creation of culturally appropriate instruments and interventions to reduce HIV infection in adolescents.