Table 3.

Viable counts of total and indicator fecal microbial populations in menopausal women treated with a soy isoflavone supplement over a 6-month period.

Equol	Month	Microbial countsa
		MCB	MRSC	BIF	RCM	EMB	BP	VA
Producers (n = 4)	0	9.51 ± 1.12	9.29 ± 1.39	9.44 ± 1.11	9.21 ± 1.31	7.69 ± 1.19	9.87 ± 1.27	9.65 ± 1.35
	1	10.46 ± 0.68	10.55 ± 0.82	10.28 ± 0.75	9.79 ± 1.92	8.91 ± 1.53	11.16 ± 0.63	10.65 ± 0.29
	3	10.73 ± 0.75	10.37 ± 0.83	10.49 ± 0.95	10.27 ± 0.52	7.35 ± 1.01	10.87 ± 0.87	10.42 ± 0.60
	6	9.79 ± 0.25	8.96 ± 0.87	9.53 ± 0.19	9.32 ± 0.40	7.17 ± 0.57	10.08 ± 0.13	9.36 ± 0.22
Non-producers (n = 12)	0	10.32 ± 0.61	10.04 ± 0.81	10.21 ± 0.67	10.23 ± 0.70	8.01 ± 0.98	10.45 ± 0.60	10.16 ± 0.73
	1	10.42 ± 0.81	10.06 ± 1.00	10.30 ± 0.82	10.38 ± 0.87	7.82 ± 0.70	10.80 ± 0.71	10.64 ± 0.75
	3	9.75 ± 0.76	9.30 ± 1.15	9.65 ± 0.69	9.49 ± 0.92	7.32 ± 1.07∗	10.13 ± 0.62	9.23 ± 0.85
	6	9.54 ± 0.54∗∗	9.10 ± 0.72∗∗	9.47 ± 0.49∗∗	9.19 ± 0.68∗∗	7.31 ± 1.03∗	9.74 ± 0.57∗∗	8.86 ± 0.75∗∗∗

^aLog₁₀ cfu g^-1 of feces (mean ± SD).

Key of media (target population): MCB, Medium for Colon Bacteria (total cultivable bacteria); MRSC; de Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe (lactobacilli); BIF, BCCMTM/LMG-Medium M144 (bifidobacteria); RCM, Reinforced Clostridium Medium (clostridia); EMB, Eosin Methylene Blue (enterobacterias); BP, Bacteroides and Prevotella medium (Bacteroides and Prevotella sp.); VA, Veillonella Agar (Veillonella sp.).

Key of statistical significance respect to basal time (t = 0): ^∗p < 0.05; ^∗∗p < 0.01; ^∗∗∗p < 0.001.