Dietary Soy Reduces Pain and Inflammation in Rats

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Dietary Soy Reduces Pain and Inflammation in Rats

ArthritisSupport.com

03-20-2002

A diet rich in soy appears to decrease inflammation-induced pain in rats,

according to a study by s Hopkins Medical

Center researchers.

The research presented March 15 at the annual meeting of the American Pain

Society, shows that rats with chronic pain

resulting from inflammation were more tolerant of painful heat stimuli, and had

less swelling of the inflamed region when

fed a diet based on soy protein.

Managing chronic pain is a complex issue for physicians who struggle to find

both the nature of the pain and the most

effective treatments. The causes can be a combination of pain resulting from

tissue infiltration and inflammation, and

neuropathic pain. The most effective medications to date have been opioids such

as morphine, but the side effects like

constipation are so severe that not all patients can tolerate them.

" Our generation is very open to the idea of dietary methods of pain control, "

says Jill M. Tall, Ph.D., lead author of the

study and a research fellow at Hopkins. " We hope to find complementary and

alternative treatments to help people

suffering from pain. "

Researchers studied two groups of 10 rats. For two weeks, the first group

consumed a diet based on casein protein (a

milk protein found in cheese) while the second group ate a soy protein diet. At

random, researchers injected either a

placebo or a solution designed to induce inflammatory pain to one of the rats'

hind paws.

Paw thickness was measured to assess fluid build-up. Pain tolerance was measured

by assessing how long the rats could

tolerate a painful heat stimulus before withdrawing the inflamed paw, and how

they reacted to varying pressures applied

to the paw with a series of nylon filaments. Tests were performed prior to

injection and repeated six, 24, 48 and 96 hours

after the injection.

Rats on the soy protein diet had significantly less swelling in their paws and a

higher tolerance to heat than the casein-fed

animals. Diet did not affect the rats' reaction to pressure stimuli. These

results are consistent with previous research

showing consumption of a soy-containing diet suppressed the development of pain

following nerve injury.

Further studies will determine if a soy diet can reduce the opioid dosage

necessary for treating chronic pain and,

therefore, side effects related to the medication.

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