What is the difference between red clover products and between red clover and soy isoflavones?
Not all red clover products are the same. The leaves of the plant contain the highest amount of isoflavones. Red clover blossoms contain little or no isoflavones so products such as red clover tea will not provide any measurable isoflavone levels. Red clover and soy are both legumes and belong to the same family of plants. The main difference is that red clover contains four active isoflavones whereas soy only has two. The extra two found in red clover are commonly found in other legumes such as chick peas and lentils. For more information on natural sources of isoflavones click here.
Red Clover (Trifolium pretense) provides 10-20 times the levels of isoflavones than soy and is one of the few plants to contain all four principle isoflavones—formononetin, biochanin A, genistein and daidzein. However, these natural isoflavones come in two different forms, depending on whether they have sugars attached (glucoside) or no sugars attached (aglycone). For your body to use isoflavones from plants, they need to be in the aglycone form. Most commercial isoflavones are not aglycones so your body has to convert the natural isoflavones into an aglycone form and this conversion may not take place with 100% efficiency. Red clover and soy are both legumes and belong to the same family of plants. The main difference is that red clover contains four active isoflavones whereas soy only has two. The extra two found in red clover are commonly found in other legumes such as chick peas and lentils. For more information on natural sources of isoflavones click here.
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