Postmenopausal women in and near the Sacramento region are needed to participate in a three-year nutritional study that will examine the effectiveness of estrogen-like compounds from soy in preventing bone loss.

The study, being conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Western Human Nutrition Research Center at UC Davis, will include approximately five visits to the General Clinical Research Center at Mather Veterans Administration Medical Center in Sacramento.

Each participant will be given information about her own bone density and content, dietary intake and physiological changes associated with menopause. They also will be paid for each of the visits to the medical center laboratory.

Researcher Marta Van Loan and colleagues hope that this study will help determine just how effective two different doses of soy compounds are and that this information eventually will lead to the development of a safe and practical treatment for preventing bone loss in early postmenopausal women.

To participate in the study, volunteers must be healthy, non-smoking women; 45 years to 65 years old; one to seven years past menopause; and not taking hormone replacement therapy, bone-building, cholesterol lowering, blood pressure, or thyroid medications. They must be willing to take supplements daily for three years, avoid soy-based foods like tofu during the study and discontinue any vitamin supplements they are currently taking.

Women who have osteoporosis or who have ever taken anti-osteoporosis medicines are not eligible for the study.

Women interested in participating in the study should phone the SOY 4 Women hotline at (530) 752-4168 ext. 3 or e-mail soy4women@whnrc.usda.gov for more information.