Table 2.

Combined treatment effect of extracted soy isoflavones alone on LDL cholesterol in subgroup analyses

Variables	No. of trials	Sample size (ESI/PLA)	WMD (95% CI) (mmol/L)	P for effect	P for heterogeneity
Baseline LDL cholesterol
≤33.36 mmol/L	1	26/21	−0.04 (−0.86, 0.06)	0.09	Not available
>33.36 mmol/L	8	330/328	0.07 (−0.08, 0.21)	0.35	0.47
Study duration
≤32 mo	5	228/226	0.06 (−0.11, 0.24)	0.49	0.87
>32 mo	4	128/123	−0.07 (−0.46, 0.31)	0.70	0.04
Total isoflavone aglycones
20–40 mg/d	4	116/110	−0.11 (−0.35, 0.13)	0.35	0.11
41–80 mg/d	3	158/157	0.02 (−0.19, 0.23)	0.83	0.91
>380 mg/d	2	82/82	0.24 (−0.05, 0.54)	0.10	0.43
Daidzein and genistein
20–40 mg/d	4	116/110	−0.11 (−0.35 0.13)	0.35	0.11
41–80 mg/d	4	214/213	0.10 (−0.09, 0.28)	0.30	0.52
>380 mg/d	1	26/26	0.10 (−0.36, 0.56)	0.67	Not available
Study design
Parallel	3	58/52	−0.42 (−0.75, 0.08)	0.02	0.97
Crossover	6	298/297	0.11 (−0.04, 0.27)	0.14	0.79
Study quality
High	7	315/308	0.06 (−0.10, 0.21)	0.47	0.30
Poor	2	41/41	−0.09 (−0.39, 0.21)	0.57	0.12

Abbreviations: WMD, weighted mean difference; ESI, extracted soy isoflavones; PLA, placebo.